Money Laundering Probe: ED Seizes Properties Tied to AP Mahesh Cooperative Urban Bank
(Syed Ali Taher Abedi)
Hyderabad Sept.2,2025 — The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Hyderabad Zonal Office, has provisionally attached two immovable properties valued at ₹1.1 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The action is part of an ongoing investigation into alleged financial irregularities involving senior officials of AP Mahesh Cooperative Urban Bank.
The attached properties, located in Adibatla Village, Ibrahimpatnam Mandal, Ranga Reddy District, are registered in the name of Rohit Asawa, son of Umesh Chand Asawa, the former Managing Director and CEO of the bank.
The ED initiated its probe based on two FIRs filed at Banjara Hills Police Station against top bank officials, including former Chairman Ramesh Kumar Bung, former MD & CEO Umesh Chand Asawa, and former Senior Vice Chairman Puroshatamdas Mandhana, along with unnamed others. The officials are accused of abusing their positions to sanction loans to ineligible borrowers using illegal or non-existent collaterals. In return, they allegedly collected commissions from the loanees for facilitating these fraudulent disbursals.
The investigation continues as authorities work to trace the full extent of the financial misconduct and recover proceeds of crime.
Further, from the said commission, the accused were suspected to have acquired several immovable properties in the name of themselves and their family members. ED investigation revealed that Umesh Chand Asawa, during his tenure as Managing Director of AP Mahesh Bank, misused his official position to sanction loans to one M/s Biomax Fuels Ltd. & its group concerns by accepting third-party property as collateral, which was already under litigation, against the loans sanctioned and charged 2%-4% commission of the total loan amount disbursed. Umesh Chand Asawa, charged commission totalling to Rs. 1.10 Crore in cash from the MD of M/s Biomax Fuels Ltd as quid-pro-quo / kickback for sanctioning the otherwise ineligible loan and thereby generated Proceeds of Crime (POC). ED investigation further revealed that the cash so collected was infused in the purchase of two immovable properties in the name of his son, by concealing the actual purchase consideration in the sale deeds. The properties were shown to have been purchased for Rs. 26.70 Lakh (approx.) whereas their prevailing market value was more than Rs. 1.5 Crore. The POC generated by Umesh Chand Asawa were found to be invested in the said properties through clandestine cash payments, to intermingle the illegitimate money/ POC with legitimate funds remitted through regular banking channels and obfuscate the money trail. Further investigation is under progress
