New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a response from the Centre and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on a petition seeking time-bound completion of the probe into the alleged money laundering by the Jaypee group and ensuring that the proceeds of crime recovered are utilised to complete the pending housing projects.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant issued notice on a petition filed by one Vandana Sabharwal, a homebuyer in a Jaypee project, who even sought a direction to the Reserve Bank of India to conduct an audit of all banks that extended credit facilities for the Jaypee projects.
The bench, also comprising justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, issued notice on the petition and posted the matter in July.
The development comes close on the heels of the Jaypee group’s takeover by the Adani Group in the insolvency proceedings for ₹14,535 crore.
The petition argued by advocate Prashant Bhushan said that, admittedly, the ED in its prosecution complaint filed in January 2026 has stated that out of ₹14,599 crores collected by the Jaypee group from homebuyers, an amount of ₹13,833 crore was diverted by Manoj Gaur, executive chairperson of Jaiprakash Associates Limited (JAL), who was arrested on November 13, 2025, and remains in judicial custody.
Bhushan said that to date, the ED has managed to attach only ₹400 crores. According to the petitioner, the ED investigation points to several external developer clusters to whom payments were made. “These include transactions involving Gaursons India Pvt. Ltd., Gulshan Homz Pvt. Ltd., CRC Group / CRC Greens Pvt. Ltd., Mahagun Real Estate Pvt. Ltd., and Honey Katiyal / Sunny Katiyal / Investor’s Clinic Infratech Pvt. Ltd,” the petition stated, adding that investigation in these aspects requires “time-bound investigation” by the ED and other statutory authorities.
As Bhushan requested the court to seek a status report from ED, the bench said, “It is better we issue notice at this stage. At the next hearing, we will see if some kind of coordinated mechanism may be brought out.”
One of the directions sought by the petition required the court to direct ED that all proceeds from attachments and confiscations in the Jaypee matter, or any other identified recipient of proceeds of crime should be deposited in a “court-monitored escrow account” and to be applied exclusively for “completion of homebuyers’ projects” and to provide restitution to homebuyers who are waiting for over a decade to either get possession or full refund.
The petition, filed through advocate Abha Zaidi, also urged the court to direct the ED to complete its investigation into the five developers involved in transactions with Jaypee group projects in NOIDA and Greater Noida.
The petitioner alleged that she had booked a residential unit at Jaypee Wishtown, Sector 128, Noida, more than a decade ago, having put all her life savings into it. To date, she has neither received possession of the dwelling unit nor a refund of the amounts deposited.
Pitching her case more on public interest than on an individual claim, she stated that the facts of the present case disclose a wider pattern of diversion of homebuyer funds, transfer of development rights, non-completion of real estate projects, regulatory inaction, and ineffective enforcement of statutory remedies under the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), the insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Hinting that under insolvency, the homebuyers will never get their due, Bhushan said, “Under NCLT. Homebuyers will only receive their principal amount. They will not get any interest on their money invested over 12 years ago. Purchasing a property now will cost ten times the cost they invested.”
