Bank accounts, demat holdings and properties frozen under FEMA provisions; probe alleges bogus exports, shell entities and suspected round-tripping through UAE-based firms
09 May, 2026 – Chandigarh : The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached bank accounts, demat holdings and immovable properties belonging to M/s Hampton Sky Realty Limited and entities linked to Punjab Industries and Power Minister Sanjeev Arora in connection with an alleged foreign exchange violation involving bogus exports worth Rs 157.12 crore.
The attachment orders, issued on April 19 under Section 37(3) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999, read with Section 132(9B) of the Income Tax Act, direct freezing of the assets for 180 days to secure the interest of revenue and facilitate further investigation.
The ED action follows search and seizure operations conducted on April 17 at the premises of Hampton Sky Realty Limited in Gurugram’s Udyog Vihar, the offices of its major shareholder M/s Findoc Finvest Pvt Ltd, and locations linked to Sanjeev Arora, Kavya Arora, Hemant Sood and Chander Sekhar.
According to the provisional attachment order, accessed by The Tribune, the company, in connivance with its directors, employees and associated persons, allegedly generated fake purchase invoices through a network of shell entities to project bogus sales and exports.
The ED alleged that against the total claimed exports of Rs 157.12 crore, transactions worth Rs 102.50 crore were routed through only two UAE-based entities — M/s Fortbel Telecom FZCO and M/s Dragon Global FZCO.
The agency has further claimed that Fortbel Telecom FZCO is a related or associated entity of M/s Fortbell Gadgets Private Limited, allegedly beneficially owned by Hemant Sood and Chander Sekhar.
The probe has raised suspicion of “round-tripping” of funds through related overseas entities, constituting alleged contravention of Section 7 of FEMA read with Regulation 9 of the FEMA (Export of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2015.
The attached assets include multiple bank accounts of Hampton Sky Realty Limited, demat accounts and mutual fund holdings of Kavya Arora, besides immovable properties situated in Ludhiana, Mohali and Gurugram.
The ED is also examining the financial trail and transactions involving associated firms and individuals as part of its ongoing investigation into the alleged foreign exchange violations.
The Tribune