The Enforcement Directorate Wednesday said it has attached Rs 7.49 lakh worth of bank deposits of VVIP choppers deal scam accused Gautam Khaitan's wife as part of a probe into a money laundering case against the couple.
The central agency said it has issued a provisional order for attachment of the funds, kept in an ICICI bank branch in Connaught Place, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Gautam Khaitan, a Delhi-based lawyer and businessman, was arrested in this case by the ED in January after it filed a fresh criminal case against him and his wife Ritu Khaitan on the basis of an Income Tax Department complaint under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015.
Gautam is also a prime accused in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP choppers deal corruption case along with his wife, which the ED is probing is probing as part of a separate PMLA case. Ritu is an accused in that case also.
The agency said in a statement that Ritu held "beneficial interest and ownership in foreign assets, company and account and she failed to disclose the same in her return of income filed before the I-T authorities."