On 26th August, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided several locations linked to businessman Piyoosh Goyal of World Window Group and companies linked to the notorious Gupta brothers of South Africa, across Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. The raids were conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). ED initiated the raids following a request from South African authorities investigating their infamous “State Capture” scandal.
While the fresh action has once again turned the spotlight on the Guptas and their links to India, it also brought back questions that OpIndia had raised years ago, questions that mainstream media conveniently ignored, and which involved none other than Congress leader and Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court, Kapil Sibal.
ED raid on Piyoosh Goyal and Gupta brothers-linked firms
The ED’s raids on Tuesday were significant not just because they targeted a controversial businessman like Goyal, but also because for the first time, they formally established the cross-border cooperation between India and South Africa in tackling financial crimes tied to the Gupta brothers.
According to officials, the searches were carried out simultaneously in New Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad, covering multiple premises connected to Goyal’s World Window Group and other associated firms such as Sahara Computers and ITJ Retails Pvt Ltd. According to media reports, investigators said that one of the key aspects of the probe was the suspected money laundering across India, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates, which was facilitated through a complex network of shell companies.
During the operation, ED teams also intercepted and questioned Ram Ratan Jagati, who has been described as the “key player” in this network. Jagati is based in Ahmedabad and allegedly floated a Dubai-based front company, JJ Trading FZE. This company was instrumental in funnelling illicit funds for both the Guptas and Goyal.
Speaking to the media, one ED official said, “Financial records, electronic data and documents are being examined to trace the flow of money across India, South Africa and the UAE.” The ED raids once again threw a spotlight on the Gupta brothers, Ajay, Atul and Rajesh, originally from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. They have been central figures in South Africa’s largest corruption scandal. Their ties with former President Jacob Zuma enabled them to secure contracts, influence political appointments and divert public funds. The arrangement became so infamous in South Africa that a new term was coined, “State Capture”, to describe it.
In 2018, the Guptas fled South Africa and relocated to Dubai. Atul and Rajesh were arrested in Dubai in 2022. However, the UAE later rejected South Africa’s extradition request and declared them fugitives. Ajay Gupta and his brother-in-law Anil Gupta were also arrested in Uttarakhand in May 2024, but in an unrelated case.
Officials said that these raids underline growing cooperation between New Delhi and Pretoria on financial investigations. An ED officer said, “Evidence gathered could lead to asset attachments, account freezes and further legal action against individuals and companies named in the probe.”
OpIndia was the first to flag Piyoosh Goyal and Gupta links
Long before ED formally stepped in, OpIndia had already flagged the dubious network of Piyoosh Goyal and his company World Window, and their close association with the Guptas. As early as 2018, when South African investigative journalists from Daily Maverick and amaBhungane were publishing their exposés on “State Capture” under Jacob Zuma, OpIndia picked up threads that directly connected this saga back to India.
Interestingly, mainstream Indian media either ignored or downplayed these revelations. On the other hand, OpIndia dug deeper. During the investigation, OpIndia highlighted how South African journalists discovered that money laundering through front companies such as Goyal’s World Window formed a crucial part of the Guptas’ international network of illicit transactions.
More importantly, OpIndia pointed out that this was not merely a case of a shady businessman abroad. It directly involved senior Indian politician, Congress leader Kapil Sibal. According to documents and corporate filings, he had financial dealings with Goyal, and his family was a beneficiary of opaque transactions.
Despite the gravity of the revelations, the silence from mainstream media outlets was deafening. Hindustan Times, for instance, cited the same South African investigative work when writing about Goyal and the Guptas, but conveniently omitted Kapil Sibal’s name from their coverage. OpIndia, on the other hand, connected the dots and asked the uncomfortable questions, questions that neither Sibal nor his political allies were willing to answer.
OpIndia’s early reporting thus ensured that the Indian public knew of the hidden ties between a controversial businessman like Goyal, the scandal-ridden Guptas and a senior Congress figure. The recent ED raids have only vindicated the ground OpIndia covered years ago. It has proved once again that investigative journalism cannot be brushed aside, no matter how inconvenient it is for the political establishment.
Details of OpIndia’s investigations
Over the years, OpIndia consistently exposed the shadowy web of connections between Goyal, the Guptas and Sibal. The coverage was not limited to a single report but formed a series of investigations that unfolded between 2018 and 2022. Each of these stories revealed new layers of the nexus and raised questions that have remained unanswered till date.
The Grande Castello deal – Kapil Sibal’s Delhi land for just one lakh rupees?
One of the most explosive reports focused on how Kapil Sibal and his wife, Promila Sibal, acquired 100% shares of a company named Grande Castello Private Limited. The firm was a subsidiary of Goyal’s World Window Impex. It owned a piece of prime land in Delhi which was valued at Rs 89 crore. However, through opaque accounting manoeuvres and a timely devaluation of assets, Sibal and his wife managed to take over the company by paying only the face value of its shares, that was, Rs 1 lakh.
Public records showed how Grande Castello, which had no business activity, managed to buy land worth over Rs 45 crore through interest-free loans of unclear origin. The company later revalued the land to Rs 89 crore, only to devalue it again a year later. Conveniently, it was right after this devaluation that the Sibals acquired the firm. OpIndia had raised the obvious question: was this a sophisticated shell company transaction designed to acquire prime property without paying market price?
The chartered flights and Cape Town stay – denied but documented
OpIndia revealed that the families of Sibal, Goyal and the Gupta brothers allegedly flew together on a chartered aircraft from Delhi to Mumbai to watch the 2011 Cricket World Cup final. The Guptas, according to South African reports, also allegedly paid for Akhil Sibal and his wife’s stay at the Queen Victoria Hotel in Cape Town later that year.
These allegations were denied by both Kapil and Akhil Sibal, and they claimed that they did not know the Guptas. They did admit knowing Goyal, whom Kapil described as a “friend” and Akhil as a “client”. What the Sibals insisted was Goyal’s hospitality was actually financed by Gupta-controlled companies.
The CBI bribery case – Goyal caught in SBI loan scandal
Even before the South African scandals hit headlines, Goyal’s reputation was already under question in India. In 2013, the CBI booked him in a bribe-for-loan case involving the then Deputy MD of State Bank of India, Shyamal Acharya. The allegations stated that Goyal provided bribes to secure a Rs 400 crore loan for his World Window group. Cash, gold and incriminating documents were seized from Acharya’s residence, which further deepened suspicions around Goyal’s methods of doing business.
Bank of Baroda’s letters – Guptas paying Goyal’s dues
OpIndia documented how Goyal’s companies received questionable financial favours. For example, Everest Global Metals, which is controlled by Goyal, had an overdraft facility of Rs 8.2 crore from Bank of Baroda. Interestingly, monthly interest payments on this facility were being made by companies belonging to the Guptas. A leaked communication from a Bank of Baroda manager in 2012 even directly addressed a Gupta company director regarding Goyal’s missed payments. This was perhaps one of the clearest indicators of how interlinked these cases were.
The Shiva temple laundering case in Saharanpur
In 2018, OpIndia reported that documents seized by the Income Tax department during raids at Gupta-owned properties in Dehradun and Saharanpur showed that over Rs 100 crore were spent on the construction of a large Shiva temple. The money was in fact routed as a laundering mechanism through “donations”. An employee of the Guptas, Sanjay Grover, had allegedly funnelled Rs 22.67 crore into the temple trust despite having a modest monthly salary. It raised suspicion that the temple project was more of a front for moving money into India.
The Gupta weddings in Auli – opulence amid allegations
In 2019, when Ajay and Atul Gupta’s sons married in back-to-back ceremonies in Auli, Uttarakhand, OpIndia questioned why a state government would extend red-carpet treatment to businessmen under investigation across continents. Around Rs 200 crore were reportedly spent on the weddings. The ceremonies sparked environmental concerns due to their location in the fragile Himalayan ecosystem. Another question raised at that time was why the state was enabling men deeply tied to international corruption scandals to flaunt wealth so brazenly on Indian soil.
BRICS summit and the failed attempt to embarrass PM Modi
In 2018, during the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, Islamist groups and separatist outfits attempted to file legal petitions to have Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrested for alleged “war crimes” in Kashmir. South African media later reported that the Guptas, angry after being snubbed by PM Modi in 2016, were suspected of fuelling these efforts. Once again, OpIndia highlighted the Guptas’ political manoeuvrings and exposed how their vendettas extended to attempts at embarrassing India’s leadership on the global stage.
Riots in South Africa and Indian community targeted
In 2021, after former President Jacob Zuma was jailed, riots broke out in South Africa. During that time racial attacks on Indian communities took place. Many locals used the crimes of the Guptas as an excuse to unleash violence against ordinary Indians. OpIndia interviewed South African MP Shameen Thakur-Rajbansi, who revealed a “toolkit” that specifically incited violence against Indians.
Speaking to OpIndia, Shameen Rajbansi revealed how there was a ‘toolkit’ to target Indians in Kwazulu-Natal province and how the charge that the violence was unleashed as retribution for the crimes of the Gupta brothers was completely unfounded. She further spoke about how the Indian government was corresponding with the South African government to ensure the safety of the Indian community and explained the roots of the racist violence in the country.
OpIndia reported how the Guptas’ corruption became a pretext for racist violence and how the Indian government had to step in to protect the Indian diaspora in South Africa.
Arrest of Atul and Rajesh Gupta in UAE
In 2022, when UAE authorities arrested Atul and Rajesh Gupta, OpIndia detailed the long arc of their corruption, their links with Zuma and their network’s spillover into India. While the arrests were celebrated, OpIndia cautioned that extradition would be difficult, as the brothers had the resources to exhaust every legal option.
The Kapil Sibal investigation
The Gupta scandal in South Africa exposed the rot of “State Capture”. Its Indian chapter revealed something just as troubling, the role of Congress leader Kapil Sibal in opaque financial dealings with Goyal.
Grande Castello – the company with crores of land, sold for a pittance
As described above, documents from March 2017 showed the Sibals owned 50% shares each in Grande Castello Private Limited, a 100% subsidiary of World Window Impex, which was controlled by Goyal. The major asset of Grande Castello was a piece of prime land in New Delhi which was priced at Rs 89 crore. However, thanks to timely devaluation, Sibal managed to take over the land piece as he acquired the company at its face value, that was Rs 1 lakh.
The pattern raised troubling questions. Why was the land devalued just before the Sibals acquired the company? Was it to bring the net worth to a negative so that the takeover could be justified at a negligible price?
Public denials and contradictory responses
When South African journalists first questioned Sibal in January 2018 about his role in Grande Castello, he flatly denied being a director of any such company despite the fact that official documents already listed him as a director from 2017. Only two months later, he publicly admitted to buying Grande Castello and called the transaction “legal”.
The series of contradictory statements, varying from denial to foreign journalists and acceptance in India, fuelled suspicions about the nature of the acquisition. Even his claim that Goyal was just a “friend” fell flat as there were multiple layers of business overlap between them.
Income Tax probe after OpIndia’s reports
OpIndia’s coverage had an impact. In March 2018, the Income Tax Department began investigating the transfer of Grande Castello shares from World Window Impex to the Sibals. Reports suggested that the deal was executed for just Rs 1 lakh. Later, it was revealed that Sibal had extended loans of over Rs 51 crore to Grande Castello, despite the company having no meaningful business operations. It raised further suspicions about whether these transactions were designed to avoid taxes.
According to Section 56(2) of the Income Tax Act, acquiring immovable property at below-stamp duty value is taxable under “income from other sources”. If Grande Castello was indeed transferred for far less than its real worth, questions about tax evasion and shell company structuring become unavoidable.
However, at every stage, Sibal stonewalled inquiries. He dismissed probing questions and even accused journalists of “mischievous intent”. His behaviour only deepened the mystery surrounding the deal.
Kapil Sibal’s threats to sue OpIndia
OpIndia sent a series of questions to Sibal. He did not answer but chose the familiar path of intimidation. After OpIndia published its investigative report on his acquisition of Grande Castello and raised questions about the opaque structuring of the deal, Sibal threatened to sue for defamation.
Threats instead of answers
Notably, OpIndia’s story did not level allegations. It laid out facts from publicly available documents and asked straightforward questions. Why was a company with land worth crores sold at a nominal value? Why was the land devalued just before the Sibals took over? Who funded the interest-free loans that helped the company buy such expensive property? Instead of addressing these, Sibal chose to issue threats.
His legal threats were not new. In January 2018, when South African journalists Craig McKune and Stefaans Brümmer confronted him with documents proving his directorship in Grande Castello, Sibal flatly denied any such role. Even when shown evidence, he evaded answers and abruptly cut off communication, accusing the journalists of harbouring a “mischievous intent”. Two months later, however, he admitted in India that he indeed owned the company, a complete U-turn that highlighted his evasiveness.
The missing clarity on price
Another layer of confusion was added by Goyal himself when he told Republic TV that the deal had been finalised for Rs 50 crore. However, when OpIndia pressed him to provide documentary proof, Goyal declined and refused to reply to a detailed questionnaire. The Sibals maintained silence. The contradiction between Sibal’s evasions and Goyal’s unverifiable claims only raised more doubts.
The bigger question – what was defamatory?
If the acquisition of the land was perfectly legal, as Sibal claimed, why did he repeatedly deny being associated with the company before finally admitting ownership? And if it was legal, what exactly was defamatory about OpIndia asking questions? Perhaps the answer lies in the discomfort that OpIndia’s reporting caused, as the matter was not allowed to slip into silence. On the other hand, sections of the mainstream media chose not to touch the story at all.
Instead of transparency, Sibal’s approach was to threaten journalists into silence. That, in itself, is revealing.
Why Kapil Sibal must be investigated
The ED’s raids on Goyal and Gupta-linked entities may appear to be just another financial crime story. However, the threads lead much deeper. They point towards a network that spanned continents, laundered money through shell companies, exploited religious trusts, flaunted ill-gotten wealth at luxury weddings, and even attempted to embarrass India on the global stage. At the centre of its Indian extension stood Goyal, whose name was repeatedly flagged by South African journalists and by OpIndia years before official agencies moved in.
However, the story does not stop at Goyal. Public documents, corporate filings and investigative work have shown that Sibal directly benefited from transactions structured by Goyal. His acquisition of Grande Castello Private Limited, with land worth crores changing hands for what appears to be a token sum, remains deeply questionable. His repeated denials, evasions and threats to sue journalists have only made the affair murkier.
The matter was either ignored or whitewashed by mainstream media. It was OpIndia that connected the dots and raised the right questions. It was OpIndia that forced the conversation into the public domain. When OpIndia was threatened with a lawsuit, we stood our ground, because investigative journalism is not about pleasing politicians but about holding them accountable.
The ED raids have vindicated OpIndia’s years of work. They show that what was once dismissed as inconvenient reporting now forms the backbone of official investigations. If there is genuine intent to unearth the truth, then Sibal’s dealings with Goyal must be probed with the same seriousness. Anything less would be an injustice not only to the law but also to the public that deserves answers.
After all, sunlight is the best disinfectant, and the light has only begun to shine in this case.
