Page 49 - Enforcement Directorate

Another prime accused arrested in Sandeshkhali land grab, sexual abuse case

One of the prime accused in the case of alleged land grab and sexual harassment of women in Sandeshkhali in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district was arrested on Saturday, police said. Local TMC leader Shibaprasad Hazra, who has been named in police complaints along with party colleagues and other two prime accused Shajahan Sheikh and Uttam Sardar, was nabbed from a hideout in Sandeshkhali. He will be produced before a local court on Sunday. "We have arrested Shibaprasad Hazra from Sandeshkhali this evening. He will be produced before the court tomorrow," an officer of Nazat Police Station told PTI. Earlier, police have also arrested Uttam Sardar but Shajahan Sheikh remains absconding. With the fresh arrest, two of the three prime accused have been nabbed. A total of 18 people have been arrested in the case so far. Meanwhile, the police added IPC sections 376D (gangrape) and 307 (attempt to murder) in the case after a survivor recorded her statement under Section 164 of Code o

ITAT's relief to Congress after nine bank accounts 'frozen' claim

Sources said that it was not the accounts that were frozen, but an amount of around Rs 115 crore, which remains attached

Bengal school jobs scam: ED searches builder's homes, office in Kolkata

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday began raids at the residences and office of a builder, who is considered close to former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee, in connection with its probe into alleged irregularities in the recruitment in primary schools in the state, an official said. Accompanied by central forces, ED teams raided an office and three flats of the businessman, one of which is just opposite the Chatterjee's house, in Naktala in the southern part of Kolkata, he said. The builder has played a significant role in the scam. It seems that the person has helped the arrested minister in investing the money garnered from the scam in different projects, the ED officer told PTI. Chatterjee was arrested by the central agency in connection with alleged irregularities in recruitment in government-aided schools. The ED had earlier questioned the builder twice in connection with the alleged scam. Several documents and bank details seized from the possession of the per

ED summons TMC leader Mahua Moitra for questioning in Fema case next week

The Enforcement Directorate has summoned TMC leader and former Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra for questioning in a FEMA contravention case next week, official sources said Thursday. The 49-year-old politician has been asked to depose on February 19 at the central agency's office in Delhi. Her statement will be recorded under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) once she deposes, they said. Moitra is being probed by the CBI too and it is conducting a preliminary inquiry into the allegations against Moitra on the reference from the Lokpal. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had accused Moitra of asking questions in the Lok Sabha to target the Adani Group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the behest of businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for gifts. He had also accused Moitra of compromising national security for monetary gains. In December, Moitra was expelled from the Lok Sabha over the issue. Moitra has denied any wrongdoing and claimed she was being targeted as

ED questions Paytm officials, gets documents following RBI's decision

The Enforcement Directorate has questioned senior Paytm executives and taken submission of documents from them following the recent RBI action of barring Paytm Payments Bank Ltd from accepting deposits or top-ups in any customer account, official sources said Thursday. The central agency, according to the sources, is conducting preliminary examination of documents before it decides to launch a formal investigation into the RBI-flagged alleged irregularities at the fintech company under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). Some documents have been recently submitted by Paytm executives following which they were asked certain questions. Some more information has been sought, the sources said. As of now, no irregularities have been detected and a case under FEMA will only be registered once any contravention under the said law is found, they added. An investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) involving Paytm is already going on for some time, they ...

Six-member BJP delegation to visit violence-hit Sandeshkhali in West Bengal

BJP president J P Nadda has constituted a six-member committee of party MPs, five of them being women, who will on Friday visit West Bengal's Sandeshkhali which has been rocked by protests over allegations of sexual assault of women by TMC supporters. Several women in the region have accused the local Trinamool Congress strongman Shajahan Sheikh and his supporters of land-grab and sexually assaulting them under coercion. Shajahan has been absconding after a mob, allegedly affiliated to him, attacked Enforcement Directorate officials who has gone to search his premises in connection with a corruption case. Union ministers Pratima Bhoumik, Annapurna Devi, who is the committee's convener, Sunita Duggal, Kavita Patidar, Sangeeta Yadav and Brij Lal, a former Uttar Pradesh DGP, are part of the committee, a statement from the BJP said. Party sources said they will visit Sandeshkhali on Friday. The party said the incidents of sexual exploitation and violence against women are heart-rendin

Sandeshkhali situation 'highly reprehensible': Bengal Guv in report to MHA

West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose has submitted a report to the Ministry of Home Affairs, blaming the law enforcers for working hand in glove with "rowdy elements" in Sandeshkhali where women have been protesting against alleged atrocities by the ruling TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh and his followers, according to Raj Bhavan sources. Bose, who visited the restive area and spoke with the agitators on Monday, said in the report that the local people want constitution of a Special Task Force or Special Investigation Team to probe into their allegations. "I have taken stock of the matter through direct interaction with the victims and by making extensive field visits in Sandeshkhali island. In my considered opinion, the situation there is highly reprehensible," Bose said in the report to the Union Home Ministry. Besides torture and sexual harassment of women when men are away, other allegations heard by the governor include grabbing land for prawn cultivation and coercing villagers to ..

ED launches preliminary probe into Fema breach in Paytm Bank case

There could be a multi-agency investigation of the company, sources have indicated

ED formally arrests Hurriyat leader Bhat, 2 others in money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate has formally arrested three people, including a Hurriyat leader, in a money laundering case for their alleged involvement in selling MBBS seats in Pakistan and funding terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir, an official said on Wednesday. Hurriyat leader Mohammad Akbar Bhat and Fatima Shah of Srinagar and Sabzzar Ahmad Sheikh of Anantnag are already in jail after their arrest more than five years ago by the Jammu and Kashmir Police's State Investigation Agency (SIA) in a terror funding case. Bhat, Shah and Sheikh were arrested on Tuesday under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) provisions for their involvement in terror financing and being hand in glove with Pakistani handlers Manzoor Ahmad Shah and Altaf Ahmad Bhat, who arranged admissions in MBBS and other courses in colleges in Pakistan for students from Jammu and Kashmir, a spokesperson of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said. The official said the accused have been remanded to the ED's custod

ED starts preliminary probe into Paytm Payments Bank after RBI's decision

That comes two weeks after the country's central bank ordered Paytm's banking affiliate to wind down

Illegal mining case: ED raids more than a dozen locations in Rajasthan

The ED conducted raids over a dozen locations in Rajasthan in connection with its probe into a money laundering investigation linked to an alleged illegal mining case

ED issues fresh summons to Farooq Abdullah in JKCA money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate has issued a fresh summons to National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah for questioning in a money laundering case pertaining to the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA), official sources said Monday. He has been asked to depose at the ED office in Srinagar Tuesday. The 86-year-old politician was last called by the central agency in this case on January 11 but he did not appear before it. He is not expected to appear at the Srinagar office of the central agency this time too, sources close to him said. The ED investigation pertains to alleged financial irregularities at the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association. The MP from Srinagar was charge-sheeted by the Enforcement Directorate in this case in 2022. The case relates to siphoning off JKCA funds by way of transfer to various personal bank accounts of unrelated parties, including those of JKCA office-bearers, and by way of unexplained cash withdrawals from its bank accounts, the ED ha

Ration scam: TMC leader Shajahan yet to appear before ED officers

Absconding Trinamool Congress leader Shajahan Sheikh is yet to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers on Monday in connection with the third summon issued to him in the multi-crore ration scam, an officer said. ED officers are waiting with a list of questions for the TMC leader at their office in the CGO Complex in Salt Lake, he said. "We have been waiting for Shajahan Sheikh since morning. He is yet to appear before our officers at the CGO Complex. No one on his behalf has appeared before our officers today. We will wait for him till this evening," the ED officer told PTI. The ED issued the summon to the TMC leader for his alleged involvement in the multi-crore ration scam. The ED sources said that if the TMC leader, against whom they have also issued one lookout notice, does not respond to the summons at all, then they might seek legal avenues. On January 24, the ED had sealed Shajahan's residence following a search operation in connection with the scam. On Jan

Ex-NCB officer Sameer Wankhede moves HC against ED's money laundering case

Former Mumbai NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede has moved the Bombay High Court challenging the Enforcement Directorate's money laundering case against him, claiming that it was a "counter blast" to a complaint filed by him against the anti-drug agency's senior official. The ED registered the money laundering case against Wankhede after taking cognisance of a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR in an alleged Rs 25 crore bribe demand from Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's family to spare his son Aryan Khan in a drugs case. Wankhede, a 2008-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer of the Customs and Indirect Taxes cadre, in his plea said the ED's case "smacks of malice and vendetta". The petition filed on February 6 through advocates Karan Jain, Sneha Sanap and Aditya Targe sought for the ED case to be quashed and an interim order to be passed granting him protection from any coercive action. Wankhede also sought for the probe being carried out by the ED to be stayed till

ED raids Karnataka Congress MLA Nara Bharath in money-laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided more than a dozen locations in Karnataka on Saturday as part of a money-laundering investigation against Congress MLA Nara Bharath Reddy and some others, official sources said. The premises of the 34-year-old legislator from Bellary and some other locations in Karnataka and Telangana are being searched, they said. Officials of the central agency searched Reddy's locations in Bellary and Bengaluru. The money-laundering case against Reddy stems from an FIR lodged by the Karnataka Police and allegations of land deals that are under the ED's scanner. Some mining and quarrying businesses allegedly linked to the MLA are also being investigated by the agency.

ED files case against ex-NCB Mumbai Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede

The Enforcement Directorate has registered a money laundering case against former Mumbai NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede taking cognisance of a CBI FIR in an alleged Rs 25-crore bribe demand from superstar Shah Rukh Khan's family to spare his son in a drugs case, official sources said Saturday. The central agency has booked the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said. Some former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officials have also been summoned. Wankhede, a 2008-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer of the Customs and Indirect Taxes cadre, has moved the Bombay High Court seeking protection from any coercive action by the anti-money laundering agency. He was booked by the CBI in May last year on charges of seeking Rs 25-crore bribe for not framing Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan in the drugs-on-cruise case, officials had said. Aryan Khan was arrested in the alleged drug bust case on the Cordelia cruise ship on October 2, 2021. The Central Bureau

Will build as many schools as summons sent: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

The summons was issued after non-compliance with its summons in a money-laundering case linked to the Aam Admi Party (AAP) government's Delhi excise policy

Land-for-Jobs case: Lalu's wife, daughters appear before Rouse Avenue Court

Former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi and her daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav appeared before the Rouse Avenue Court here on Friday in connection with the Land-for-Jobs scam case

'ED is new weapon of Centre': Arvind Kejriwal on probe agency summons

Slamming the BJP-led central govt, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the Centre has 'waged a war' against Opposition governments

Money laundering probe against Soren: ED summons Cong MP Dhiraj Sahu

The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand Dhiraj Prasad Sahu for questioning in a money laundering case in which the central agency arrested former chief minister Hemant Soren, official sources said Thursday. Sahu, 64, was in the news after the Income-tax department in December recovered Rs 351.8 crore cash, an all-time high seizure, during raids against Odisha-based Boudh Distillery Pvt. Ltd. (BDPL), promoted by the family of the Congress legislator. Sources said the ED wants to question and record Sahu's statement in connection with his purported links with Soren and a BMW SUV that was seized by the agency from the JMM leader's house in Delhi sometime back. The agency raided a premise in Kardarpur village in Gurugram on Wednesday on whose address this Haryana number plate bearing SUV was registered, the sources said. Two locations in Kolkata were also searched in the same case on Wednesday. The ED suspects this vehicle to be allegedly linked