Assets worth Rs 1.6 crore of a Kerala-based education group chairman and his family have been attached in a money laundering case linked to the alleged distribution of fake degrees, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Friday.
A provisional order, under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), has been issued against James George, the Chairman of Modern Group of Institutions located in Kollam district, his wife Seema James and Bharathiya Orthodox Church Religious and Charitable Trust, the central investigative agency said in a statement.
These eight immovable assets are located in Kollam, Alappuzha, Thrissur, Kannur and Wayanad districts of Kerala.
The ED claimed its probe found that James George was "engaged in forging certificates of various state universities".
"He distributed such fake certificates to students and job seekers in lieu of cash payment and thus cheated them during 2012-2015," the agency alleged.
The education group promoter also "indulged in selling various fake diploma certificates of his Modern Group Institutes to job seekers and students against cash payment without conducting any course at his institutes during the said period".
"The proceeds of this crime were invested in purchase of immovable properties...," it said.
The PMLA case against James George and his family is based on a Kerala Police FIR and a charge sheet filed against him in the past.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
PNB Fraud: Mehul Choksi's Assets Worth Over Rs 2,500 Crore To Be Auctioned "Misleading": Shilpa Shetty's Lawyer Dismisses Reports Of Probe Agency Raids Probe Agency Conducts Raids In Andhra Pradesh Over Rs 200 Crore Land Fraud Case Suspected Car Attack On German Christmas Market Injures Up To 80 Hardeep Puri vs Shashi Tharoor Over 2009 Dinner With George Soros In US Video: Bird's-Eye View Of Devastation After Jaipur Accident That Killed 12 Volkswagen To Cut 35,000 Jobs In Germany By 2030 Suspected Car Attack On German Christmas Market Injures Up To 80 16-Year-Old JEE Student From Bihar Found Hanging From Fan In Kota: Police Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.