Shemaroo Entertainment CEO Hiren Gada, Other Top Officials Arrested In Rs 70 Crore Tax Fraud Case; A Look At High-Profile Arrests and Financial Probes In Recent Years

Shemaroo Entertainment CEO Hiren Gada, along with other top officials, including joint managing director Atul Maru and chief financial officer Amit Haria, have been apprehended in connection with an alleged tax fraud case amounting to Rs 70.25 crore.

The Central Goods and Service Tax (CGST) Department conducted a search operation on September 5, resulting in the subsequent arrests of these high-ranking executives.

Shemaroo Entertainment, known for its diverse media offerings, has announced its intention to contest the allegations through the proper legal channels; however, at this stage, the company is unable to definitively determine the impact on its operations and the precise amount involved in the alleged misconduct.

Reports suggest that Hiren Gada and his associates established various shell companies to fraudulently claim Input Tax Credit (ITC), resulting in significant losses to the government exchequer.

Shemaroo Entertainment currently operates three TV channels: Shemaroo TV, a Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC); Shemaroo Umang, a Hindi channel focusing on light-hearted stories for women; and Shemaroo MarathiBana, the company’s first regional channel.

Who Is Hiren Gada?
Hiren Gada, 51 years old, serves as the CEO, CFO, and Whole Time Director at Shemaroo Entertainment and receives a total compensation of approximately ₨5,126,000, with no other executives at the company earning more.

Shemaroo Entertainment Limited is engaged in content distribution for satellite channels, physical formats, and emerging digital technologies in India. The company is also involved in movie production, syndication, and various other media-related services, including digital restoration, VFX, and studio services; it also offers Bollywood-themed products and media industry courses.

As of October 22, Hiren Gada was elected as the president of the Entertainment Content Owners Association of India (ECOA).

ED’s Might
Over the last eight years, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has carried out 3010 raids and attached proceeds of approximately Rs 99,356 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Here are some high-profile cases that have taken central stage and gained national headlines:

Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi National Herald case,

The ED carried out rates at 12 National Capital locations and other places in August 2022 in connection with the National Herald case in which Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi, party leader Rahul Gandhi and others are accused of financial irregularities.

The case pertains to the alleged financial irregularities under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. PMLA was conducted based on a private criminal complaint filed by former Bharatiya Janata Party Subramaniyam Swamy.

Bhupinder Singh Honey In Sand Mining Case

In an alleged illegal sand mining case, the Ed conducted rates on the premises of property owned by former Punjab Chief Minister Chandanjit Singh Channi’s nephew, Bhupinder Singh Honey.

The agency seized more than rupees 10 crores of gold worth 21,00,000 and a Rolex watch worth rupees 12 lakh from the residential premises of Honey. This was one of the biggest ED raides of 2022. The Ed also questioned Channi in connection with an illegal sand mining case.

IAS Pooja Singhal In Jharkhand Mining Case

IAS officer Pooja Singhal, an aide of Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, was raided in a money laundering case linked to the alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA funds in the state’s Khunti and Chatra districts.

She was arrested in May 2022, and around Rs. 20 crore cash was recovered from Pooja Singhal and her Chartered Accountant.

ED had also raided Ranchi’s Pulse Hospital, owned by her husband Abhishek Jha.
Pooja Singhal was the secretary of the Department of Mines and Geology and the Managing Director of Jharkhand State Mineral Development Corporation Limited (JSMDC).

Partha Chatterjee And Arpita Mukherjee SSC Recruitment Scam

The ED recovered around Rs. 50 crores in cash, along with jewellery from former Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee’s associate Arpita Mukherjee’s residence, one in southwest Kolkata, and another while investigating the West Bengal SSC recruitment camp.

The arrest of Partha Chatterjee followed the recovery of Rs 21 crore in cash and jewellery from the Kolkata residence of Arpita Mukherjee, a close aide of the former education minister.

Satyendar Jain In Money Laundering Case

AAP leader and Delhi’s Health Minister Satyendar Jain was arrested under provisions of PMLA by the ED in May 2022 after the CBI registered an FIR against him in a Disproportionate Asset case on August 24, 2017.

The ED said it seized various incriminating documents, digital records, and total movable assets from an “unexplained source” and was “found to be secreted” the raided premises.
More than Rs 2 crore in cash and gold weighing 1.8 kg were seized by the ED after raids against Jain and those linked to him in a money laundering case.

Karti Chidambaram In Chinese Visa Case

The ED booked Congress MP Karti Chidambaram in a money laundering case connected with the Chinese Visa case.

The FIR is based on allegations that Karti accepted a bribe of Rs 50 lakh from the Vedanta Group to facilitate visas for 300 Chinese nationals of a company working in collaboration with a Vedanta subsidiary for a power project in Punjab.

Sanjay Raut In Patra Chawl Scam

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut went into ED custody in a money laundering case related to irregularities concerning the Patra Chawl case.

The ED raided Raut’s Bhandup bungalow and seized Rs 11.5 lakh in cash. It also recovered several important documents during raids, including records that Raut paid Rs 3 crores in cash to the sellers for ten plots of land in Alibaug.

Yes Bank- DHFL Fraud Case

The Enforcement Directorate attached assets totalling Rs 415 crore in the Yes Bank- DHFL Fraud case.
Of the total, Rs 251 crore assets were of Sanjay Chhabria and Rs 164 crore of Avinash Bhosale, the latest attachment; the total went up to Rs 1,827 crore, according to the ED.

The attached assets of Sanjay Chhabria are in the form of a land parcel in Santacruz, Mumbai, worth Rs. 116.5 crores, 25 per cent equity shares of Chhabria’s company were held in the land parcel located at Bengaluru worth Rs 115 crore, a flat located at Santacruz, Mumbai worth Rs 3 crore.

Additionally, profit was received from a hotel belonging to Chhabria located at Delhi Airport worth Rs 13.67 crore and three high-end luxury cars worth Rs. 3.10 crore.

It further attached assets of Avinash Bhosale in the form of a duplex flat belonging to Bhosale, located in Mumbai, worth Rs. 102.8 crores, one land parcel at Pune worth Rs. 14.65 crores, one more land parcel situated in Pune worth Rs. 29.24 crores, a land parcel located at Nagpur worth Rs. 15.52 crore and another portion of land situated at Nagpur to the extent of Rs 1.45 crore.

Nawab Malik

Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik is said to have had links with fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s D-company for a long time. In the prosecution complaint, the ED mentioned Malik’s alleged link to the D-company and purported conspiracy to “usurp” the Goawala building compound in Kurla West in 1996.

Farooq Abdullah

The Enforcement Directorate filed a supplementary chargesheet against former J-K Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association Fund scam.

The case relates to the siphoning-off of Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) funds by way of transfer to various personal bank accounts of unrelated parties, including those of office bearers of JKCA bank accounts.

The ED initiated a money laundering investigation; the quantum of proceeds of crime identified by ED in this case so far is Rs 51.90 crore, out of which ED has attached assets worth Rs 21.55 crore.