ED files charge sheet against journalist Upendra Rai

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today filed charge sheet against journalist Upendra Rai in a money laundering case related to alleged extortion and dubious financial transactions.

The agency filed the charge sheet before Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora who posted the matter for consideration on August 8.

The Delhi-based journalist was arrested by the CBI on May 3 for allegedly indulging in dubious financial transactions, getting an airport access pass made by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) by furnishing false information, alleged extortion and manipulation of an Income Tax Department case against a Mumbai-based businessman.

The ED had registered a money laundering case against him based on the CBI FIR.

It had claimed to have recovered, after searches at Rai's premises and those linked to him, call data records of a senior ED official and an IAS officer earlier posted with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, besides confidential communication between a Singapore-based Indian High Commission official and a former ED chief.

He was arrested on June 8 by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at the Tihar jail here, moments after he secured bail in a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case related to alleged extortion and dubious financial transactions.

The agency had claimed before the court that "top secret documents" were recovered from Rai's possession and it was trying to find out how he procured them. It alleged that the accused had extorted money from various persons claiming he had information against them as he was a journalist.