ED conducts searches at 3 locations in NCR related to Bikaner land deal

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday conducted searches on premises of two persons in connection with a money laundering probe in the Bikaner land deal case. Officials said the ED raided at least three locations in Faridabad near here.

They said the agency is looking at collecting and seizing important documents and other possible incriminating evidence in this case and hence, raids are being conducted on premises of two persons involved in the matter.

The ED had recently attached assets worth Rs 1.18 crore of government officials and others in connection with the case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

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The case pertains to a land in Kolayat area of Rajasthan’s Bikaner district which was meant to be alloted to those displaced due to the army’s Mahajan field firing range.

The ED had registered a criminal case under the PMLA in the matter in 2015 taking cognisance of FIRs filed by the state police after the local Tehsildar had complained of alleged forgery.

The agency, in this case, had also issued notices to a firm linked to Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress party president Sonia Gandhi.

However, it did not mention the name of Vadra or any company linked to him in its FIR filed under the PMLA.

In the FIR, it had named some Rajasthan government officials and the “land mafia”. Vadra had denied any wrongdoing even as the Congress had called the action “sheer political vendetta”.