ED Conduct Searches Linked To Shashank Govind Prasad Pandey Of Prayag Developers And Builders
The Enforcement Directorate office in Nagpur has reported the results of search operations it carried out on 26 October 2026 at two locations in Nagpur district, Maharashtra.
The searches relate to Shashank Govindprasad Pandey, the proprietor of M/s Prayag Developers and Builders.
The agency issued a press release on 31 October 2026 describing the operation and the allegations under investigation. According to the Enforcement Directorate, the case concerns alleged fraudulent real-estate transactions. These include the misappropriation of money received from property sales, the alleged fraudulent cancellation of a property-allocation deed, and the sale of flats that had already been mortgaged to Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL). The investigation is being conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. It is based on FIRs registered at Ajni Police Station and Ranapratapnagar Police Station in Nagpur. The FIRs invoke sections 418 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code.
During the searches the Enforcement Directorate seized unaccounted cash of Rs 1.95 crore. Bank balances of more than Rs 40 lakh were frozen. Several immovable properties valued at crores of rupees were identified. The agency has said these properties are suspected to have been acquired from the proceeds of the alleged offences. Documents and digital devices described as incriminating were also seized. The investigation remains ongoing.
The Enforcement Directorate has described two main sets of transactions in its press release.
The first set of allegations involves a senior citizen widow. The agency states that Pandey entered into a development agreement concerning land belonging to her. Under the agreement he was required to pay her Rs 1.75 crore and to allot 14 residential flats. The flats were earmarked in her favour through a Declaration-cum-Correction Deed. The Enforcement Directorate alleges that this deed was later cancelled without her knowledge or consent. The earmarked flats were then sold to third parties.
The agency reports that the sale of these 14 flats generated proceeds of Rs 8.93 crore. It alleges that this amount was misappropriated and diverted for personal gain. In addition, Rs 45 lakh that was payable under the development agreement is said to have been withheld. The Enforcement Directorate has placed the total alleged wrongful loss to the complainant at approximately Rs 9.4 crore.
A development agreement of this kind is a common arrangement in the real-estate sector. The landowner grants development rights over the land in return for a combination of cash and constructed units. In this instance the Enforcement Directorate says the landowner was entitled to both a cash payment and 14 flats. The Declaration-cum-Correction Deed is described as the document that recorded the earmarking of those flats. The subsequent cancellation of that deed, according to the agency, took place without the widow’s knowledge or consent. The flats were then sold to other buyers and the sale proceeds were allegedly diverted.
The second set of allegations concerns a project known as Divya Prayag Apartment. The Enforcement Directorate states that 22 flats in this project had been mortgaged to Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited against a project loan of Rs 22 crore. Of this amount, Rs 11 crore was disbursed. The agency alleges that Pandey sold these mortgaged flats without obtaining a no-objection certificate from the lender and without informing the purchasers about the existing mortgage.
The Enforcement Directorate further alleges that a false affidavit was submitted to a bank in connection with a home loan. The affidavit is said to have concealed the existence of the mortgage. Outstanding dues on the project loan later reached Rs 12.84 crore. Proceedings under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act were initiated.
A mortgage creates a security interest in favour of the lender over the property that is pledged. When flats that form part of that security are sold without the lender’s consent, the purchasers may find themselves dealing with a property that remains subject to the lender’s claim. The Enforcement Directorate has said that the 22 flats were sold without the required no-objection certificate and without disclosure of the mortgage to the buyers. The outstanding figure of Rs 12.84 crore and the start of recovery proceedings under the SARFAESI Act form part of the same set of allegations.
The two sets of transactions are being examined together under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Sections 418 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code are scheduled offences under that Act. This allows the Enforcement Directorate to investigate whether money or property obtained through the alleged cheating was later concealed, possessed, acquired, used or projected as untainted property.
The cash of Rs 1.95 crore recovered during the searches has been described by the agency as unaccounted. The frozen bank balances exceed Rs 40 lakh. The immovable properties identified during the operation are valued at crores of rupees and are suspected to be linked to the proceeds of the alleged offences. The Enforcement Directorate has not published a single consolidated figure for the total value of all suspected proceeds of crime.
The Enforcement Directorate has described the matter as an ongoing investigation. The searches were conducted under the powers available to the agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The press release records the recovery of cash, the freezing of bank balances, the identification of properties and the seizure of documents and devices. It does not announce any arrest, the filing of a prosecution complaint or the issuance of a provisional attachment order.
The case therefore rests on the allegations set out by the Enforcement Directorate concerning the development agreement with the senior citizen widow, the cancellation of the Declaration-cum-Correction Deed, the sale of the 14 earmarked flats, the diversion of Rs 8.93 crore, the withholding of Rs 45 lakh, the mortgage of 22 flats in Divya Prayag Apartment to Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited, the sale of those flats without the lender’s consent, the alleged non-disclosure of the mortgage to purchasers, the submission of a false affidavit and the outstanding dues of Rs 12.84 crore that led to SARFAESI proceedings. All of these matters remain under investigation.
