Adani News

Tag: ED

  • Sukanya Mandal arrested in cattle smuggling case

    Sukanya Mandal arrested in cattle smuggling case

    West Bengal. The Enforcement Directorate (ED), probing the multi-crore cattle smuggling scam in West Bengal, had summoned Sukanya Mandal, daughter of Trinamool Congress stalwart Anubrata Mandal, for questioning. According to information received from ED sources, it is being told that Sukanya Mandal has been arrested. Let us tell you that Sukanya’s father Anubrata Mandal was arrested by Eden on November 17 last year.
    Sukanya Mandal, daughter of Trinamool Congress strongman Anubrata Mandal, arrested in West Bengal’s famous cattle smuggling case, has been arrested by the ED in Delhi today after a long interrogation. According to the information, ED had summoned Sukanya Mandal for questioning in Delhi. The ED was trying to find out from Sukanya, a teacher by profession, whether her accounts were used in the cattle smuggling case. How did they suddenly get so much money in their accounts. There are many other questions which the ED wanted to know from him.
    CBI has also interrogated Sukanya
    In the animal smuggling case in Bengal, on 23 September 2022, the CBI also reached the house of jailed Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mandal in Nichupatti area of Bolpur. A CBI team interrogated his daughter Sukanya Mandal in a cattle smuggling case. It is being told that there was also a woman officer in the three-member team. The investigating officer stayed at the house for about an hour. The team also visited a nearby post office. Sukanya Mandal is a shareholder in a rice mill owned by her father.
    CBI officials visited the rice mill and seized some vehicles. Mandal was arrested by the CBI on August 11 in the cattle smuggling case and is currently lodged in jail. During the investigation, the CBI also got information about one of the rice mills, ‘Bhole Bam Rice Mill’. Shyamal Mandal, the former owner of the said rice mill, was called to the temporary camp office of the CBI for questioning, where he was questioned on Friday.

  • Jharkhand IAS Officer Appears Before ED For Questioning In Land Deals Case

    Jharkhand IAS Officer Appears Before ED For Questioning In Land Deals Case

    Jharkhand: IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Ranchi on Monday for questioning in connection with its investigation into alleged illegal land deals, an official said. Ranjan, a 2011-batch officer of Jharkhand cadre, reached the ED office around 10.30 am, he said. The officer was briefly questioned by the agency on April 13 as well, when searches were carried out in this case at his premises and those of some others in Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. The agency had arrested a total of seven people, including a Jharkhand government officer, after these raids.

    An assistant registrar of assurances of West Bengal government based in Kolkata has also been asked to depose on May 2, ED sources had said. The action was taken under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the agency is looking at more than a dozen land deals, including one pertaining to defence land, wherein a group, including land mafia, middlemen and bureaucrats, allegedly “connived” in forging land deeds and documents from as early as 1932. Lands of the poor and the downtrodden were “usurped” as part of this fraud, ED sources had said.

    To launch its investigation under the PMLA, the federal agency took cognisance of a police FIR of forgery of some personal identification documents registered by the civic authorities concerned. The agency, according to the sources, has recovered a number of fake seals, land deeds and registry documents during the searches. This is the second case in which a Jharkhand-cadre IAS officer has come under the scanner of the ED. Last year, the ED had raided and arrested IAS officer Pooja Singhal in a money laundering case.

  • ED attaches assets worth Rs 39.28 crore in money laundering case

    ED attaches assets worth Rs 39.28 crore in money laundering case

    New Delhi (IANS) | The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it has attached movable and immovable assets worth Rs 39.28 crore belonging to one Virendra Kumar Ram and his family members in a money laundering case. The properties include a farmhouse, flat, duplex bungalow, land in Delhi, Jamshedpur and Ranchi and three bank accounts with a collective balance of around Rs 36 lakh.

    The ED had launched the money-laundering probe on the basis of an FIR registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Jamshedpur.

    An ED official said, “The investigation has revealed that Virender Kumar Ram, as Chief Engineer in the Rural Works Department in Ranchi, earned proceeds of crime in the name of commission in lieu of allotment of tenders to contractors. Thus The proceeds of crime generated were used by Virendra. Ram and his family members lead a very luxurious lifestyle.”

    Earlier, searches were conducted at 30 premises linked to Virender Kumar Ram in different cities, in which various incriminating evidence were found and seized, the official said.

    Cash worth Rs 40 lakh, seven high-end luxury vehicles and jewelery worth Rs 1.51 crore were seized during the search operation, which were later found to be part of the proceeds of crime earned by the accused.

    Virendra Kumar Ram was arrested by the ED on February 23 after he was found guilty of money-laundering. He is currently lodged in Ranchi’s Hotwar Jail.

    Virendra Kumar Ram’s cousin Alok Ranjan was also arrested on 11 April after he was found guilty of assisting Virendra Kumar Ram in laundering the proceeds of crime.

    –IANS

  • Karti Chidambaram’s property worth Rs 11 crore seized, ED made a big deal

    Karti Chidambaram’s property worth Rs 11 crore seized, ED made a big deal

    New Delhi. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday attached assets worth Rs 11.04 crore of Congress MP Karti Chidambaram in the INX money laundering case. This information was given in an official statement here. The ED said that one of the four attached properties is an immovable property located in Coorg district of Karnataka. A provisional order has been issued against Karti under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the statement said. Karti Chidambaram, son of former Union minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, is the sitting MP from Sivagangai Lok Sabha seat in Tamil Nadu and was arrested by both the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and ED in the INX case.
    The case pertains to alleged receipt of illegal funds directly or indirectly from INX Media Pvt Ltd, which was cleared by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) during his father’s tenure as Union Finance Minister in the then United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. approval was received. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday attached assets worth Rs 11.04 crore of Congress MP Karti Chidambaram in the INX Media money laundering case. The ED said that one of the four attached properties is an immovable property located in Coorg district of Karnataka. The statement said that a provisional order has been issued against Karti under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
    Karti Chidambaram, son of former Union Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, is the sitting MP from Sivagangai Lok Sabha seat in Tamil Nadu. And he was arrested by both CBI and ED in INX case. The matter pertains to money received directly or indirectly from INX Media Private Limited. It had received Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval during his father P Chidambaram’s tenure as Union Finance Minister in the UPA government.
    what is the matter
    A private company was setting up a 1980 MW thermal power plant at Mansa in Punjab. Its responsibility was given to a Chinese company. It is alleged that this project was getting delayed. To speed up the work, Chinese professionals were brought to Mansa. Visa was arranged for them by a person from Chennai with the help of some of his colleagues. The rules were ignored in this. A total of 263 project visas were issued. Not only this, this private company wrote a letter to the Home Ministry and requested to re-issue visas to all these visa holders. Its approval was also received in a month. It is alleged that a person from Chennai demanded a bribe of Rs 50 lakh with the help of his associates. It is alleged that Mansa’s private company sent this bribe to Chennai through a fake bill of a company in Mumbai.

  • ED questions Lalu Prasad’s daughter Ragini in ‘land for job’ case

    ED questions Lalu Prasad’s daughter Ragini in ‘land for job’ case

    New Delhi (IANS) | The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday questioned Ragini Yadav, daughter of former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, in an alleged land-for-jobs case, an official said. He was recently called by the ED to join the probe in the case. In this case, ED had also questioned Lalu Prasad’s daughter Misa Yadav and son Tejashwi Yadav.

    A source said, Ragini reached the ED headquarters on Wednesday and joined the investigation. On Tuesday, Tejashwi was questioned for about eight hours.

    During the investigation, the ED found that 4 parcels of land acquired by Lalu Prasad’s family members from poor Group-D applicants for a mere Rs 7.5 lakh were transferred by Rabri Devi to former RJD MLA Syed Abu Dojana for huge benefits of Rs 3.5 crore. were sold in a deal in collusion with

    The ED said that in their investigation it has also come to light that a major part of the amount thus received was transferred to Tejashwi Yadav’s account. ED said- In the investigation, it was found that in the same way land was taken from many poor parents and candidates in lieu of Group D jobs in Railways. During investigation, it has been revealed that more than 50 percent of the candidates recruited in several railway zones were from the constituencies of Lalu Prasad’s family.

    –IANS

  • Bengal cattle scam: ED probing from ‘real estate investment’ angle

    Bengal cattle scam: ED probing from ‘real estate investment’ angle

    Kolkata (IANS) | The Enforcement Directorate (ED), probing the multi-crore cattle-smuggling case in West Bengal, is now trying to gather details and information on how the scam got crores of rupees invested in the real estate sector. A source in possession gave this information on Wednesday. The ED has already summoned Subrata Hazra, a private real estate promoter, to its Delhi office for questioning in this regard. Subrata Hazra is a Trinamool Congress strongman and a close confidante of the party’s Birbhum district president Anubrata Mandal.

    His wife is also a Trinamool Congress councilor in Bolpur municipality of Birbhum district. The sources also claimed that some specific leads had been received about a major part of the scam’s proceeds in the cattle-scam, which was being invested in real estate projects owned by Hazra.

    Meanwhile, Anubrata Mandal’s daughter Sukanya Mandal has defied ED’s summons to appear in Delhi for questioning for the third time. She was supposed to come to Delhi this week and face questioning. However, sources said that she has already sent a message to the ED expressing her inability to appear for questioning due to health reasons.

    Sukanya’s father is currently in judicial custody in Delhi’s Tihar Jail for his alleged involvement in the cattle smuggling scam. The ED wants to question Sukanya Mondal about the sources of funds in the two companies where she was a director, as well as the rice mills where she was a partner.

    ED sends summons to Sukanya and wants to interrogate her and Anubrata together.

    –IANS

  • ED to interrogate main accused in TSPSC paper leak case

    ED to interrogate main accused in TSPSC paper leak case

    Hyderabad (IANS) | The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will interrogate the main accused in the Telangana State Public Service (TSPSC) exam paper leak case. The central agency filed a petition in the Nampally court seeking permission to interrogate Praveen Kumar and Rajasekhara Reddy. Reddy is a suspended TSPSC employee and is currently in judicial custody. The ED moved the court for recording the statement of the accused under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The agency told the court that it has the authority to investigate under sections 48 and 49.

    The ED has filed the Enforcement Case Information Report based on media reports, information available in public domain and initial inputs from intelligence. The court was told that a four-member team of ED officials would record the statements of the accused.

    The ED also sought the court’s direction to the Chanchalguda jail superintendent to allow laptops, printers and other electronic gadgets in the prison for recording statements.

    The agency has also mentioned in its plea that it had written to the Central Crime Station (CCS) on March 23 seeking documents and details of the case. It sought a direction to hand over the details of the case to the police.

    The ED has also issued notices to two officers of TSPSC including Confidential Section Officer Shankara Lakshmi. He has been asked to appear for questioning on April 12 and 13. The accused had stolen the question papers from Lakshmi’s computer.

    Meanwhile, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Hyderabad Police probing the paper leak on Tuesday submitted its probe report in a sealed cover to the Telangana High Court. While hearing the petition of NSUI leader Balamuri Venkat, the court had directed the SIT to submit its report.

    The Advocate General told the court that out of 18 accused, 17 have been arrested by the SIT while efforts are on to arrest one more accused who is in New Zealand.

    The counsel for the petitioner argued that he had no faith in the SIT. He also told the court that the SIT investigation is limited to some lower rank employees of TSPSC. Stating that the ED is talking about transactions from abroad, he said that facts can come out only after a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

    The court asked the Advocate General whether the candidates were allowed to appear in the examination as per the rules and sought details such as the name of the agency to which the task of conducting the examination was outsourced.

    The paper leak issue rocked the TSPSC last month. In the confidential section of TSPSC, two employees stole question papers from the computer system and shared them with others. TSPSC has canceled four examinations, including the preliminary examination conducted for recruitment to Group-1 posts in government departments.

    The SIT has also recorded the statements of the Chairman, Secretary and a member of TSPSC and has also questioned several candidates who have scored good marks in the Group-I examination.

    –IANS

  • Cattle smuggling scam: ED summons Anubrata Mandal’s daughter again

    Cattle smuggling scam: ED summons Anubrata Mandal’s daughter again

    Kolkata (IANS) | The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has again summoned Sukanya Mandal, daughter of Trinamool Congress stalwart Anubrata Mandal, to the agency’s headquarters in New Delhi for questioning in connection with the multi-crore cattle smuggling scam in West Bengal. This is the third time Sukanya Mondal has been called to the national capital for questioning after her father was taken to New Delhi in connection with the probe into the case. However, she did not appear on both the first occasions.

    Agency sources said that in the third summons, Sukanya Mandal has been asked to appear on April 12.

    His father Anubrata Mandal is in judicial custody in Tihar Jail.

    It is not yet clear whether Sukanya Mandal will respond to the third summons. The last time the ED called her to New Delhi, the agency officials had warned of strict legal action if she did not turn up. He was called to New Delhi for the first time on 15 March. Every time she told ED that she would not be able to go to Delhi due to health reasons.

    –IANS

  • Supreme Court refuses to hear plea alleging misuse of CBI and ED

    Supreme Court refuses to hear plea alleging misuse of CBI and ED

    The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a petition filed by 14 opposition parties, led by the Indian National Congress, alleging “arbitrary use” of central probe agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

    The Opposition parties had alleged arbitrary use of central agencies against opposition leaders and had asked for directions to agencies to strictly comply with the laid down guidelines for arrest and bail proceedings.

    During the hearing, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi claimed that there had been a six-fold increase in the cases of CBI and ED during this government.

    “885 prosecution complaints have been filed. Conviction is only 23. From 2004 to 2014.. roughly half were investigated, Singhvi said. In reply, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said that the rate of conviction in India is abysmally low.

    Singhvi said that from 2014 to 2022, ED has proved 121 political leaders, of which 95 percent are from the opposition. “For CBI, 124 leaders probed and 108 are opposition,” he said.

    ‘Will not entertain’: CJI Opposition plea
    The bench headed by CJI, which also included Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala, said, “You want that in cases of punishment up to 7 years if the conditions are not being violated, then there should be no arrest. If there is no case like child abuse or rape, then there should be no arrest. How can we say that? If this has to be done then it is the work of the legislature, we cannot make separate guidelines for the politicians.”

    The CJI asked how can such a demand be considered. “Something wrong is happening with someone, for that the doors of the court are there, we are sitting here! He can come. We are sitting to listen. We will not entertain this,” he added.

  • Uttarakhand: ED attaches assets in SC-ST scholarship scam case

    Uttarakhand: ED attaches assets in SC-ST scholarship scam case

    New Delhi (IANS) | The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Dehradun branch has attached immovable property worth Rs 1.45 crore belonging to Roorkee-based Vali Gram Udyog Vikas Sansthan in connection with the SC/ST scholarship scam. This group runs Techward Wali Gram Udyog Vikas Sansthan Group of Institutions. ED initiated investigation under PMLA on the basis of FIR filed by Haridwar Police in Uttarakhand under various sections of IPC. During investigation it was found that Techward Wali Village Industries Development Institute had fraudulently obtained huge amount of scholarship in the name of SC-ST students from Haridwar Social Welfare Department for the period 2011-12 to 2014-2015. The amount of scholarship given by the government to the college for SC-ST students has not reached the beneficiary students.

    The ED further said that the institution had fraudulently completed all the formalities for obtaining scholarship under the SC/ST scholarship scheme. It is also clear from the investigation that the scholarship under SC/ST scholarship scheme disbursed by the government has been embezzled by the Takeward Wali Gram Udyog Vikas Sansthan through its trustees and has caused huge financial loss to the exchequer.

    The official said that the investigation under PMLA has revealed that this illegal money was used for the construction of the college and other related expenses of the college. After identification of the proceeds of crime (POC), a provisional attachment order has been issued to attach a piece of land worth Rs 1.45 crore as POC in Haridwar district. Further investigation is on in the matter.

    –IANS