Noida:

After the Noida Police, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) will now take forward the investigation into the case involving YouTuber and former Bigg Boss OTT winner Elvish Yadav and his eight associates for organising a rave party in Noida, where snakes and snake venom were reportedly found.

The Noida Police have already submitted a 1,200-page charge sheet in the court naming Elvish Yadav and his associates as accused. The police also submitted electronic evidence, a forensic report, besides the statements of 24 witnesses in the case.

The ED will now collect information related to this case from the Noida Police and take the investigation forward with the help of the evidence recorded in the charge sheet.

The Noida Police have also sent the mobile phones of Elvish Yadav and two other accused to the forensic laboratory for examination.

The ED is likely to question Elvish Yadav soon, sources said.

According to police sources, the three phones that have been sent to the forensic lab contained videos and chats related to rave parties and the use of snake venom.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday attached lands, a building and bank deposits worth more than Rs 73.43 lakh as part of a money laundering investigation against Uttar Pradesh gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari.

The attached properties include land measuring 1,538 sq. ft. situated at arazi no. 604, Mauja Rajdepur Dehati, Tehsil Sadar in Ghazipur district apart from a commercial building constructed over it, and a plot of land measuring 6,020 sq. ft. situated at arazi no. 169 in Mauja Jahangirabad, Pargana under Tehsil-Sadar in Mau district, the agency said in a statement.

The total registered value of these properties is Rs 73,43,900.

These properties were acquired by Abbas Ansari (Mukhtar Ansari’s son) at an “undervalued consideration of Rs 71.94 lakh as against government rate of Rs 6.23 crore”, it said.

In addition, Rs 1.5 lakh in the form of bank account deposits of Mukhtar Ansari have also been attached after a provisional order was issued by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), it said.

The money laundering case against Mukhtar Ansari stems from multiple FIRs registered by the Uttar Pradesh Police.

“Mukhtar Ansari and his family members usurped government land and built a warehouse over it. The warehouse was hired on rent by Food Corporation of India Limited and rent was paid to the family members of Mukhtar Ansari,” it said.

The ED had earlier attached seven immovable properties with a book value of Rs 1.5 crore (in the form of a plot of lands in district Mau and Jalaun) belonging to Mukhtar Ansari’s wife Afshan Ansari and Vikas Construction, a firm controlled by Mukhtar Ansari and his family.

Mukhtar Ansari, Abbas Ansari (a sitting MLA from Mau Sadar constituency) and Mukhtar Ansari’s brother-in-law Atif Raza have been arrested by the ED in this case till now even as the agency has filed a charge sheet against them before a court.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Delhi High Court has refused to interfere with a trial court order sending Chinese national Guangwen alias Andrew Kuang to three-day Enforcement Directorate custody in a money laundering case against Chinese smartphone maker Vivo.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, in an order released on Saturday, dismissed a petition by Kuang — an office bearer of Vivo Mobile India — challenging the trial court order of remand, noting that as per the grounds of arrest and the remand application, the petitioner, “one of the main conspirators”, was involved in the incorporation of the companies throughout the country for acquiring and siphoning off proceeds of crime.

“Ultimately, the investigating officer had concluded (in grounds of arrest) that the present petitioner was the prime conspirator of the formation of these companies through which acquisition of proceeds of crime had taken place and which, after layering and integration, had been siphoned off by Vivo India,” the court observed in an order dated October 13.

“This court does not find any infirmity in the order of remand dated 10.10.2023 challenged before this Court as the same takes into account the mandate of compliance of provisions of Section 19 of PMLA as well as Section 45 of PMLA. Accordingly, the present petition stands dismissed along with pending application,” ordered the court.

On Friday, the trial court extended the custody of the petitioner with ED by three days in the case.

The petitioner, apprehended on October 10, had argued before the high court that his arrest was carried out in a malafide manner and against the mandate of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and no case was made out against him.

Rejecting the objections, the court observed that the remand application specifically mentioned that on the basis of the investigation carried out so far and material collected, the present petitioner was “guilty” of the offence of money laundering and therefore written grounds of arrest were also given to him.

On October 10, the trial court sent four people, including the petitioner, to three-day ED custody in the case.

The agency had raided the company and its linked people in July last year, claiming to have busted a major money laundering racket involving Chinese nationals and multiple Indian companies.

The ED had then alleged that a whopping Rs 62,476 crore was “illegally” transferred by Vivo to China in order to avoid payment of taxes in India.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Raigad, Maharashtra:

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached immovable properties worth over Rs 150 crore belonging to Vivekanand Shankar Patil, a four-time MLA from Panvel and his relatives in connection with a bank fraud case, officials said on Thursday.

Taking to the social media platform, X, ED said, “ED has provisionally attached immovable properties belonging to Vivekanand Shankar Patil, a four-time MLA from Shetkari Kamgar Paksha Party and Ex-Chairman of Karnala Nagari Sahakari Bank Ltd, Panvel, his relatives and Karnala Mahila Readymade Garments Cooperative Society Limited, having book value of Rs. 152 Crore (approx.) in form of pool of vast land, bungalow, residential complex etc. on October 12, 2023 in connection with a Bank Fraud case.”

ED has provisionally attached immovable properties belonging to Vivekanad Shankar Patil, a four-time MLA from Shetkari Kamgar Paksha Party and Ex- Chairman of Karnala Nagari Sahakari Bank Ltd, Panvel, his relatives and Karnala Mahila Readymade Garments Cooperative Society… pic.twitter.com/4gdqRTkZCw

— ED (@dir_ed) October 12, 2023

“Total attachment in this case stands at nearly Rs 386 crore, ED said.

The ED initiated the investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police in 2019.

The fraud came to light after an audit was done at the instance of the Reserve Bank in 2019-20, when it was revealed that Patil was siphoning off funds from the bank through 63 fictitious loan accounts to the loan accounts of Karnala Charitable Trust and Karnala Sports Academy, which were founded and controlled by Vivekanand Patil.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday raided the premises of AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan in Delhi as part of a money-laundering investigation against him and some others, official sources said.

The 49-year-old legislator represents the Okhla constituency in the Delhi Assembly.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) searches are being undertaken under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The federal agency has taken cognisance of a Delhi Anti-Corruption Bureau FIR and a Central Bureau of Investigation FIR against the legislator, related to alleged corruption linked to illegal appointments in the Delhi Waqf Board.

Mr Khan is the Delhi Waqf Board chairman.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The lawyer for the Enforcement Directorate has said that Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor has requested one week time to appear before the ED regarding the summon issued to him in connection with the Mahadev betting app case.

Speaking to ANI, ED lawyer Saurabh Pandey said, “Mahadev app is a betting portal and it is a case of money laundering. Raipur ED office started the probe and four people were arrested. As the probe proceeded further, the names of many people came to light, and we issued summons to a few people. Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor’s name has also come up so we issued a summon under section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), he didn’t appear today but through email, he requested one week time. We will see what needs to be done further.”

“The procedure is that if one does not appear on the called date then we issue the summon again,” he added.

According to sources Ranbir Kapoor had allegedly carried out promotional activities for the Mahadev betting app. In this case, ED also suspects several other A-lister celebrities and certain sports personalities who promoted the app

A lavish wedding held this February in the United Arab Emirates caught the attention of the Enforcement Directorate as the entire money-around Rs 200 crore- spent on the bash was paid entirely in cash.

At his wedding held in Ras Al-Khaimah, Sourabh Chandrakar, one of the promoters of the Mahadev Online Book Betting app, hired private jets to ferry family members from Nagpur to the UAE and paid celebrities from the Indian film industry to perform, according to the ED.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also summoned comedian Kapil Sharma and actor Huma Qureshi in connection with the Mahadev betting app case.

Mahadev Online Book Betting app is an umbrella syndicate arranging online platforms for enabling illegal betting websites to enrol new users, create user IDs and the laundering of money through a layered web of benami bank accounts.

ED had stated that it has successfully identified other major players involved in the money laundering operations of the Mahadev online booking app.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kolkata:

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee to appear before its officers on October 9 in connection with their probe into the alleged irregularities in the West Bengal teacher recruitment scam, a senior official said today.

The probe agency also summoned Abhishek Banerjee’s wife Rujira for questioning on October 11, the official added.

“Our officers will question Banerjee on October 9 and his wife on October 11 in connection with the school jobs scam. Both have been asked to come to our office at the CGO Complex here,” the officer told Press Trust of India over the phone.

Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate had summoned the TMC leader’s parents Amit and Lata Banerjee to appear before its officers this week in the same case.

The Diamond Harbour MP, who was asked by Enforcement Directorate to appear before it on October 3, had skipped the summons and participated in the party’s protest rally in New Delhi against the BJP-led central government demanding immediate release of central funds allegedly owed to the state.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)