A group of four investment funds that have come under scrutiny for association with companies of Adani Group have a history of investing in troubled companies.

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The Mauritius-based investment funds have previously put their money in companies that have either gone bankrupt or were being investigated for breaking the law, reported Bloomberg.

Elara India Opportunities Fund, Cresta Fund, Albula Investment Fund and APMS Investment Fund have parked over 90 percent of their managed fund value of $6.9 billion into Adani companies.

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Of these four, three are currently under investigation by the National Securities Depository Ltd, which froze their respective accounts. The four funds had previously invested in Winsome Diamonds and Jewellery, Sterling Biotech, Ruchi Soya Industries and Karuturi Global. Of these, owners of two companies are fugitives after defaulting on loans, and the other two went bankrupt.

Jatin Mehta, the owner of Winsome has been declared a fugitive since 2018 over an unpaid loan of about $900 million which he wilfully defaulted on. While his location is unknown, he is still under investigation for money laundering and round-tripping.

Nitin Sandesara and Chetan Sandesara had to flee the country when it came to light that they had used Sterling Biotech, which they had a controlling stake in, to launder their money. They also had defaulted on loans and allegedly committed round-tripping.

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Karuturi, once the world's largest rose producer, was liquidated by creditors for Rs 18.2 billion. The company was also involved in a legal tussle with the Ethiopian government over a cancelled land lease when the company had failed to adequately develop the allotted area.

After defaulting on payments, Ruchi Soya was labelled a wilful defaulter and entered bankruptcy, it was bought by Patanjali Group.

Pankaj Chaudhary, minister of state for finance, informed Parliament in a response to Mahua Moitra, TMC representative and a former investment banker, that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had been investigating Adani Group companies.

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However, he added that neither the funds nor Adani Group companies were being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate, which is responsible for investigating serious accusations like those of round-tripping and money laundering.

The funds have also aroused suspicion due to their strange synchronisation. Two of the funds are registered at the same address, while the third is registered on the same street. Filing reports have also shown that the companies usually invest and exit at the same time, and sometimes even hold the same percentage stake in companies.