Sebi to auction 22 properties of Rose Valley Group on May 20 to recover investors' money

New Delhi: Markets regulator Sebi on Monday said it will auction 22 properties of Rose Valley Group of companies on May 20 at a reserve price totalling Rs 8.6 crore in a bid to recover money raised by the firm from the public through illicit schemes.

The properties to go under the hammer include flats and office spaces located in West Bengal, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a notice.

The e-auction will be conducted on May 20 between 11 am and 1 pm. The total reserve price of these properties is pegged at Rs 8.6 crore, it added.

The markets regulator said it has engaged Quikr Realty to assist it in the sale of the properties.

A committee would oversee sale of the assets and the money will be utilized for repaying the investors. The committee was formed following an order passed by Calcutta High Court in May 2015.

Going by the notice, the bidders should make their own independent enquiries regarding the encumbrances, litigations, attachments and acquisition of liabilities of the property put on auction, prior to submitting their bids.

The regulator, in June 2022, ordered attachment of bank accounts as well as shares- and mutual fund holdings of Rose Valley Hotels and Entertainment Ltd and its then directors to recover investors' dues totalling more than Rs 5,000 crore.

This came after they failed to comply with Sebi directions to refund the investors. In November 2017, the regulator had ordered Rose Valley and its then directors to refund thousands of crores to investors who had parked money in holiday membership plans of the group as it declared those schemes as illegal.

The various plans were offered by the firm with a promise of return to qualify as a Collective Investment Scheme (CIS).

Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in March 2023 revealed that assets worth around Rs 150 crore were attached under the anti-money laundering law as part of an investigation against the Rose Valley Group.

As per the ED, funds were collected by selling "fake and fabricated" schemes through a chain of agents located in Assam, West Bengal, Tripura, Odisha, Jharkhand and several other states.