ED carries out raids in ₹250-crore money laundering case in J&K
The Hindu
ED searches 6 places in J&K in ₹250-cr money laundering case. Searches include premises of former J&K State Co-operative Bank Ltd chairman. Fraud in name of fictitious River Jhelum Co-operative Housing Building Society. ED conducted raids under PMLA. ACB filed charge sheet against Hilal A Mir, Mohd Shafi Dar & others. Loan of ₹223 cr sanctioned without codal formalities. Funds siphoned off & ₹187 cr frozen by ACB.
The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday searched six places in connection with a ₹250-crore money laundering case in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.
The searches included the premises of the former chairman of Jammu and Kashmir State Cooperative Bank Limited, they said. Earlier the officials had mentioned that the case pertained to J&K Bank.
The fraud was in the name of the fictitious River Jhelum Cooperative Housing Building Society, the officials said.
According to them, the raids were conducted by the ED's office in Srinagar under powers provided to the federal probe agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for search and seizure.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had already filed a charge sheet in the case against Hilal A Mir, the chairman of the fictitious housing society, the then chairman of J&K State Co-operative Bank Limited Mohd Shafi Dar and others for the commission of offences under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act in August 2020.
According to the ACB probe, Mir had moved an application to the Secretary Cooperatives, Administration Department of Co-operative Societies, where he sought directions to the J&K Co-operative Bank Ltd for a grant of financial assistance to the tune of ₹300 crores for taking over possession of 37.5 acres of land in the outskirts of Srinagar for construction of a satellite township.
The application was endorsed to the Registrar of Cooperative Societies Jammu and Kashmir for taking up the matter with J&K State Cooperative Bank.
While residents are worried over deaths due to diarrhoea in Vijayawada, officials still grapple to find the root cause. Contaminated drinking water supplied by VMC officials is the reason, insist people in the affected areas, but officials insist that efforts are on to identify the disease and that those with symptoms other than diarrhoea too are visiting the health camps.