Calcutta: Calcutta High Court on Wednesday issued an interim directive restraining Trinamul Congress Rajya Sabha member K.D. Singh, his company Alchemist Group and other directors of the firm from selling and buying properties in foreign counties till further order.

The directive followed a petition by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) claiming that Singh, accused of misappropriating public funds, was trying to flee the country and he had transferred 100 million US dollars (around Rs 687 crore) to the US for the purpose.

A division bench of Justice Jaymalya Bagchi and Justice Rajarshi Bhardwaj also allowed Singh's lawyer to file an affidavit to clear his client's stand with regard to the Sebi's allegations and fixed the matter for hearing after two weeks.

Moving the petition on behalf of Sebi, advocate Hirak Mitra claimed that Singh had already transferred 100 million US dollars to the US through a Mumbai-based business family.

The lawyer also claimed that Singh had transferred 10 million Euros - Rs 79.6 crore -- to Cyprus and applied for residency and a passport in the European Union.

It has also been claimed that Singh acquired a portion of ownership of a Calcutta-based company against a payment of Rs 250 crore and the deal for it was done in Dubai.

The Sebi counsel handed over a sealed envelope to Justice Bagchi and claimed: "The documents to substantiate the authenticity of my client's claim are kept inside the envelope."