In a fresh raid in Uttar Pradesh as part of an ongoing money laundering probe against gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad and those linked to him, the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday seized Rs 75 lakh cash and documents related to 200 bank accounts and about 50 shell companies, sources said.
According to the officials, raids were conducted early morning on 15 premises in Prayagraj with Uttar Pradesh police teams providing armed security cover to the ED officials.
Gangster-turned-politician Ahmad faces more than 100 police cases in UP. The ED case of money laundering against him and his family stems from these FIRs.
Advertisement
All about Wednesday's action
The action came on a day the 60-year-old former Samajwadi Party MLA was brought to the Naini Central Jail in Prayagraj from the Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad for the second time in about a fortnight. He would be produced in a court in connection with the Umesh Pal murder case.
Official sources said the ED teams seized Rs 75 lakh cash, some foreign currency, documents and passbooks pertaining to about 200 bank accounts and 50 shell entities that are suspected to have been used for laundering of "ill-gotten" money generated out of extortion, land grabbing and other criminal activities of the mafia-turned-politician and his associates.
Advertisement
Those raided by the ED included Atiq Ahmad's relative Khalid Zafar, his advocate-cum-accomplice Saulat Hanif Khan, his associates Asad, Vadood Ahmad, Kali, Mohsin, accountants Sabeeh Ahmad, Asif Jafri and Seetaram Shukla and real estate developers Sanjeev Aggarwal and Deepak Bhargav, sources said.
The federal probe agency also recovered certain documents pertaining to over 100 properties in the name of Atiq Ahmad's close associates and firms. Investigators suspect these assets are Ahmad's "benami" properties.
The investigators also recovered some documents that point to "cash" transactions of more than Rs 50 crore. Some documents of properties that are alleged to have been "forcibly" purchased from farmers apparently through criminal intimidation have also been found, the sources said.
The ED had in 2021 attached assets worth over Rs 8 crore of Ahmad and his wife Shaista Parveen as part of its money laundering investigation against them. It had conducted some searches at that time too.
The agency had said its probe found that "Ahmad, through criminal activities, used to earn dirty money in cash and it was deposited/placed in his and his relative's bank accounts".
"It has also been noticed by ED that funds are being credited in their accounts from various firms and companies being run by his aides," the ED said.
(With PTI Inputs)
