Cracking down on Bihar's liquor mafia, ED attaches movable, immovable properties worth Rs 1.32 cr

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said to have provisionally attached movable and immovable properties worth Rs 1.32 crore of a couple, cracking down on a liquor mafia of Ara in Bhojpur district of Bihar.

In a statement, ED said that 15 landed plots along with the construction on two plots totalling Rs. 1.32 crore in the name of couple -- Sanjay Pratap Singh and Kiran Devi -- has been attached.

The available bank accounts with a balance of Rs 30,757 have been held in the name of Sanjay Pratap Singh and Maa Construction under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

Besides this, he was also involved in illegal manufacturing and selling of spurious liquor, resulting in the death of 21 persons.

A case has been registered and charge-sheet filed by the police. The accused has been convicted to life imprisonment by the trial court. Singh had been held in the offences of culpable homicide, cheating and criminal conspiracy, etc.

Investigation under the PMLA revealed that Sanjay Pratap Singh "has invested the proceeds of crime generated through illegal trade of liquor for acquiring immovable properties in his name, and in the name of his wife, Kiran Devi, who has no independent source of income."

In the year 2011, with the intention to legalise his tainted income, Singh formed an unregistered firm -- Bhojpur Wine Traders -- to launder Proceeds of Crime, said the ED.

"Further investigation revealed that the accused used the proceeds of crime into the construction business named Maa Construction. Ill-gotten money has been used to acquire and construct an immovable property," said the ED, adding that further investigation, in this case, is underway.