Page 49 - Enforcement Directorate

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

Delhi liquor excise policy: Court summons CM Kejriwal for hearing on Feb 17

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal faces legal action for failure to adhere to Enforcement Directorate summons related to alleged money laundering

PMLA court extends ED custody of former CM Hemant Soren by 5 days

A special PMLA court on Wednesday extended the Enforcement Directorate (ED) remand of former chief minister Hemant Soren by five days in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam, lawyers said. Soren, JMM executive president, on February 2 was remanded to five days' ED custody by the special PMLA (The Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court which ended on Wednesday. "The ED had prayed for seven days of remand which we objected saying no further remand is required because he has already been interrogated for eight hours on January 20 and another eight hours on January 31," Advocate General Rajeev Ranjan, who appeared for Soren, told reporters. Apart from that, he has already been interrogated for 120 hours in five days. "So, there is no need for any further remand. But they have tried to expand this scope of investigation beyond the predicate offence matter. We have been saying that they (ED) have no power and jurisdiction to investigate anything beyond the predicate

Excise policy case: Court asks Kejriwal to appear on Feb 17 on ED's plea

A Delhi court on Wednesday summoned Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on February 17 on a complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against him over the non-compliance of its summons in a money-laundering case linked to the now-scrapped excise policy for the national capital. "Cognisance of the complaint has been taken and summons is being issued to him to appear on February 17," Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra said. The judge had reserved the order after the ED submitted that it had concluded its arguments in the matter. The ED had on February 3 filed a fresh complaint case against Kejriwal for the non-compliance of its summons. Kejriwal on Friday skipped the fifth summons issued to him by the ED. The agency had issued the summons to him on last Wednesday. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor had earlier written to the ED, describing the summonses as "illegal and politically motivated". He had alleged that the summonses were aimed at preventing him fr

Delhi excise case: Court to pass order on ED's plea against Arvind Kejriwal

A Delhi court is likely to pronounce at 4 PM on Wednesday its order on a complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over non-compliance of summons in the alleged excise policy money laundering case. "I am posting the matter for order at 4 PM," Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra said. The judge reserved the order after the ED submitted that it has concluded the arguments in the matter. The ED had on February 3 filed a fresh complaint case against Kejriwal for non-compliance of its summons. Kejriwal on Friday last skipped the fifth summons, which the ED issued to him on Wednesday. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor had earlier written a letter to the ED, terming the summonses as "illegal and politically motivated". He alleged they were aimed at preventing him from campaigning in elections.

ED didn't conduct searches, sat in living room of CM PA's house: Atishi

The ED officials who raided the premises of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's personal assistant Bibhav Kumar sat in the living room of his house and did not even pretend to carry out any searches, Delhi minister Atishi said on Wednesday. The officials did not search any rooms or look for any documents. They did not even care to explain in connection with which case they had gone there, she said at a press conference. There was no immediate response from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to Atishi's claims. Sources had said on Tuesday that the raids were carried out in connection with "irregularities" in a Delhi Jal Board (DJB) tendering process. The 'panchnama' document showed that the ED team took with it just two Gmail account downloads and three family phones from Kumar's house, Atishi claimed. The ED raids are nothing but an attack on Kejriwal to crush him because he is the only one who openly challenges the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she charged. About 10-12 premis

ED conducts raids against Harak Singh Rawat in money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday conducted searches against Congress leader and former minister Harak Singh Rawat as part of a money laundering investigation, official sources said. The searches were carried out at multiple premises in Uttarakhand, Delhi and Chandigarh, they said. Rawat had quit the BJP ahead of the 2022 Uttarakhand assembly polls and joined the Congress. The ED investigation is understood to be linked to alleged illegal activities in the state's Corbett Tiger Reserve.

ED raids being carried out to trample AAP, trouble us: Delhi CM Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday claimed that 23 Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers carried out raids at his personal assistant's residence for 16 hours but did not find anything. He also claimed that the houses of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders such as Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain and Sanjay Singh were raided as well. But even there, the ED did not find anything, the national convener of the party said. These are being done to trample the AAP and trouble its members, Kejriwal said in a post on 'X'. The ED on Tuesday searched the premises of Kejriwal's personal assistant (PA) Bibhav Kumar and others as part of its probe into charges that the AAP and some officials received kickbacks of about Rs 21 crore through alleged irregularities in a Delhi Jal Board (DJB) contract, official sources said. The action is part of a money laundering investigation focusing on alleged bribes that were garnered through irregularities in the DJB tendering process and purportedly ...

FIU, ED seek report from RBI on action taken to bar Paytm's banking unit

The Enforcement Directorate and the Financial Intelligence Unit have asked the RBI to share its report on the recent action taken to bar Paytm Payments Bank Ltd from accepting deposits or top-ups in customer accounts, official sources said on Tuesday. Federal agencies ED and FIU, tasked with checking violations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), are already probing matters related to the payment gateway under provisions of the anti-money laundering law. Following the action of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Paytm has said it did no wrong and asserted that its brand owner company One97 Communications, founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) are not being investigated for money laundering or foreign exchange violations. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has asked the RBI to share its latest report so that it can analyse if it needs to initiate a probe against PPBL, a senior official told PTI. The agency has been probing Paytm and oth

ED raids vendetta politics, attempt to divert attention from dharna: TMC

The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday denounced the coordinated ED searches in West Bengal as "vendetta politics" and a "desperate manoeuvre" by the BJP to divert attention from the TMC's ongoing dharna demanding clearance of the state's dues. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday morning started simultaneous searches at multiple places in West Bengal, including residences of some state officers, in connection with its investigation into alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA funds, officials said. Senior TMC leader Shashi Panja asserted, "This is an attempt to divert public and media's attention from the TMC's ongoing dharna demanding clearance of state's dues. This is a clear example of vendetta politics." However, the West Bengal BJP dismissed these allegations as "baseless". BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya stated, "The reality is that the TMC is deeply mired in corruption, with nearly every leader facing corruption allegations." Senior TMC leaders Partha Chatterjee, Jyotipriyo Mallic

ED searches at multiple places in Bengal in 'embezzlement' of MGNREGA funds

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday morning started simultaneous searches at multiple places in West Bengal in connection with its investigation into alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA funds, officials said. While the residence of a former block development officer (BDO) was raided in Salt Lake's IA Block, the personnel of the agency were also conducting searches at the house and office of a businessman in Chinsurah in Hooghly district, they said. Searches were also being conducted at a property linked to a state government employee in Baharampur in Murshidabad district, they added. The former BDO was posted in Dhaniakhali in Hooghly district, an officer said. The searches were being conducted after evidence of their involvement was found in the "irregularities", he claimed. The alleged irregularities relate to about 25 lakh "fake" job cards issued under MGNREGA in the state, officials said.

ED raids Arvind Kejriwal's personal secretary, AAP leaders: Report

ED raid is also reportedly underway at the residence of AAP MP ND Gupta in Delhi

BJP-led Centre trying to scare AAP leaders by conducting ED raids: Atishi

Delhi minister and senior AAP leader Atishi on Tuesday said the BJP-led Centre is trying to "scare and silence" the party by conducting ED raids on its leaders. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched the premises of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's personal secretary Bibhav Kumar and AAP Rajya Sabha MP and party's treasurer ND Gupta as part of a money laundering case, official sources said. Atishi said raids were being conducted by the ED at the premises of Kumar and Gupta since 7 am. More raids on the premises of other AAP leaders are to be conducted throughout the day, she claimed. The minister also alleged that the statements of witnesses and accused related to the excise policy case were extracted by the probe agency by force and threat. She alleged the BJP-led Centre using ED to "scare and silence" AAP by conducting raids on its leaders. Despite two years of probe, nothing has been found by the agencies in the alleged excise policy scam, she said. About 10 premises