ED attaches Rs 3-cr assets in RBSE fraud case

Assets worth about Rs 3 crore have been attached by the ED in a money laundering case linked to alleged embezzlement of Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE) funds, the probe agency said on Thursday.

The case pertains to two FIRs registered by the Rajasthan anti-corruption bureau against Narendra Kumar Tanwar, a state accounts services official, who allegedly misused his official position and amassed huge assets.

In one of the FIRs, Tanwar has been named along with Ajay Jaidka, an employee of Noida-based Pyriamid IT Consulting Pvt Ltd, and others for allegedly embezzling RBSE funds in Ajmer district.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), in a statement, said its probe found that Tanwar "embezzled" a Rs 12.13 crore RBSE fund by "illegally transferring" it through RTGS and NEFT, and issuing cheques and demand drafts in the name of several entities and individuals, including his family members, relatives or persons known to him from four bank accounts of the education board.

"Tanwar further used funds from the bank accounts of RBSE for the purchase of immovable properties in his name, in the name of his wife and brothers by directly paying the sellers through demand drafts prepared from cheques issued from the bank accounts of RBSE," the agency said.

"He had used the proceeds of crime for investment in movable and immovable properties in his own name or in the name of his wife, son and brothers," the ED claimed.

The agency issued a provisional order, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), attaching the properties of Tanwar and Jaidka.

The properties attached include two flats worth Rs 58.7 lakh in Delhi, two insurance policies of Rs 8.16 lakh, bank balance of Rs 1.65 crore and some other seized cash.

The total value of the attachment is Rs 2.79 crore.

The agency had similarly attached properties linked to Tanwar in the past and with the latest order the total value of such frozen assets stands at Rs 7.20 crore.