ED seizes Rs 11 cr cash during raids in IAS officer’s case

NEW DELHI : The Enforcement Directorate on Friday said it has seized cash worth Rs 11.64 crore after it conducted fresh searches against some people being probed in a money laundering case against Bihar IAS officer Sanjeev Hans.

The raids were launched on Thursday at seven locations in Patna. The federal probe agency said in a statement that it searched the premises of Tarini Das, Chief Engineer of Bihar Construction Department (BCD); Mumukshu Chaudhary, joint secretary in Bihar Government’s Finance Department; and Umesh Kumar Singh, Executive Engineer of Urban Development and Housing Dept. (UDHD) among others. Raids were also conducted against Ayaz Ahmed, Deputy Project Director of Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (BUIDCO); Sagar Jaiswal, DGM (Projects) of Bihar Medical Services and Infrastructure Corporation Ltd. (BMSICL); Vikash Jha, DGM of BMSICL; and Saket Kumar, Executive Engineer in the Bihar Construction Department (BCD). It claimed that these officials were the “recipients” of bribe money to give “favourable” outcomes in several tenders as well as clearance of bills of various contractors including that of a Patna-based contractor named Rishu Shree. None of the officials or their legal representatives could be contacted for their response on the ED action and the charges made against them.The searches led to the seizure of about Rs 11.64 crore cash, a number of property documents, some papers pertaining to sharing of “bribe money” along with various other “incriminating” documents and digital evidences, the ED said.