Ozone Group Chairman Vasudevan Satyamurthy remanded to 14-day ED custody in ₹927 crore money laundering case

A Bengaluru special court on Thursday remanded Ozone Urbana Infra Developers Pvt Ltd managing director Vasudevan Satyamurthy to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for 14 days following his arrest in a money laundering case involving approximately ₹927.22 crores as the alleged proceeds of the crime.

Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge Manjunath Sangreshi passed the order after the ED sought custodial remand of Satyamurthy in connection with an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) registered against Ozone Urbana Infra Developers Pvt Ltd, Satyamurthy, Priya Vasudevan and others.

Vasudevan will remain in ED custody until October 14.

The ED alleged that the ECIR was registered based on FIRs concerning scheduled offences such as cheating, criminal conspiracy and diversion or misappropriation of funds collected from homebuyers.

According to the agency, Ozone Group entities induced homebuyers to purchase residential units under a "No Pre-EMI till possession" subvention scheme and collected substantial amounts towards bookings and housing loans despite several projects remaining incomplete and possession not being delivered.

The agency further alleged that its investigation revealed multiple allotments of the same residential units, multiple housing loans against the same units, profile funding and issuance of booking receipts without actual consideration, besides diversion of funds received from homebuyers and financial institutions.

The ED's remand application said that the CBI filed a chargesheet on July 15, 2026 in relation to the scheduled offences. The investigation covered 63 homebuyers across two projects, according to the agency.

The ED alleged that substantial portions of the money collected from homebuyers were diverted to various Ozone Group entities and entities allegedly connected to Satyamurthy and his family members.

According to the agency, approximately ₹180 crore was transferred from Ozone Urbana to Tuscan Consultants & Developers Pvt Ltd, from where substantial amounts were allegedly transferred to the personal bank accounts of Satyamurthy, Priya Vasudevan and entities connected to their interests.

The agency alleged that Satyamurthy's personal account received approximately ₹41.15 crore from Tuscan Consultants, including around ₹12.285 crore on June 6, 2018.

The ED also alleged that around ₹105 crore was received by Tuscan Consultants from Ozone Urbana, of which more than ₹3.5 crore was transferred to Satyamurthy and Tuscan Agrow, besides the creation of a fixed deposit of around ₹7 crore.

It further alleged that ₹7.77 crore was transferred from Ozone Urbana to Satyamurthy's personal account, for which his explanation was allegedly misleading and evasive.

The agency alleged that Ozone Holdings Pvt Ltd availed a loan of around ₹360 crore by offering 55 acres of Ozone Urbana's land as security. According to the ED, ₹180 crore from the loan was transferred to Ozone Urbana, while the remaining ₹180 crore was transferred to Ozone Projects Pvt Ltd for another project in Chennai.

The agency has also flagged transfers of approximately ₹38 crore to Muthammal Estates Pvt Ltd and ₹12.89 crore to Swaruba Builders, alleging that satisfactory supporting documents were not furnished to establish the business rationale.

The ED said more than 400 complaints have been filed by buyers before Karnataka RERA against Ozone Urbana. It also alleged that some flats allotted to purchasers were subsequently re-sold to others or vendors to whom dues were owed.

The agency stated that properties representing alleged proceeds of crime worth approximately ₹423.37 crore were attached in October 2025, and the attachment was confirmed by the Adjudicating Authority in March 2026. The Karnataka High Court dismissed the company's challenge to the attachment on September 21, 2026.

Special Public Prosecutor Madhu N Rao appearing for ED, submitted that Satyamurthy had not provided clear answers during examination under Section 50 of the PMLA, particularly regarding the money trail, diversion of homebuyers' funds and inter-corporate transactions.

The ED has alleged that Satyamurthy exercised overall control over Ozone Urbana's financial management, project execution, fund mobilisation and banking operations.

The agency submitted that custodial interrogation was necessary to trace the complete money trail, identify further assets allegedly acquired from proceeds of crime and ascertain the beneficiaries and other persons involved.

The ED also said digital devices, books of accounts and documents were seized during searches conducted in August 2025 and sought 14 days' custody to investigate the alleged complex web of inter-corporate transactions.

Advocate Deepak Bhaskar appeared for Vasudevan Satyamurthy.