New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday disclosed that it had discovered documents linked to assets worth approximately Rs 33 crore after conducting searches in connection with a money laundering investigation. The probe is related to a disproportionate assets case involving a former Madhya Pradesh transport department official and his associates.
On December 27, the ED raided eight premises across Bhopal, Gwalior, and Jabalpur. The investigation centers on Saurabh Sharma, a former constable with the state transport department, and his associate, Chetan Singh Gaur, along with others including Sharad Jaiswal and Rohit Tiwari.
The ED said in a press release that these individuals were either suspected beneficiaries of the proceeds of crime or have allegedly abetted in laundering the illicit funds.
The money laundering case stems from an FIR of Lokayukta police of the MP government against Sharma where it is alleged that he amassed “disproportionate assets worth crores of rupees in the name of his family members and associated firms and companies”.
The federal agency said details of bank accounts and properties were identified during the searches and an analysis found that Sharma had “bought a number of properties in the name of his family members, friends and companies in which his close associates were directors”.
Movable assets (fixed deposits) of more than Rs 6 crore were identified in the name of Chetan Singh Gaur and bank deposits of more than Rs 4 crore were found in the name of family members and companies of Sharma, it said.
Some documents related to immovable properties worth more than Rs 23 crore in the name of various companies and family members of Sharma were found along with other “incriminating” documents, the ED claimed.
These assets were allegedly purchased and acquired by Sharma from “illegal” money obtained through “corrupt” practices while he was working as a constable in the state transport department, the agency said.
The Income Tax Department had seized gold bars of 52 kgs and cash of Rs 11 from the vehicle of Chetan Singh Gaur sometime back.
According to the Lokayukta, Sharma got appointed as a constable in the Madhya Pradesh transport department on compassionate grounds in 2015 and he took voluntary retirement from service in 2023. His father, a government doctor, died in 2015, as per the Lokayukta.
(with agency inputs)
