MINING SCAM: ED PROBE AGAINST 2 FORMER DMS
LUCKNOW : Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday initiated probe against two former district magistrates of Saharanpur and ten others after registering an FIR under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with the sand mining scam on Sunday.
LUCKNOW: Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday initiated probe against two former district magistrates of Saharanpur and ten others after registering an FIR under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with the sand mining scam on Sunday.
Senior ED officials said the FIR under PMLA was registered and probe initiated on the basis of FIR registered against the same persons by the Central Bureau of India (CBI) on September 30, 2019 for violation of norms in the allocation of sand mining leases in Saharanpur district between 2012 and 2016.
They said those booked under PMLA were two former district magistrate of Saharanpur—Ajai Kumar Singh, 1998-batch Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer, and 2008-batch IAS officer Pawan Kumar and ten other . They said Ajai Kumar Singh remained posted as DM of Saharanpur between 2012 and 2014 while Pawan Kumar was there between 2014 and 2015.
The officials said 10 other accused (who were benefited by the allocation of sand mining leases) named in the FIR were Mehmood Ali, Dilshad, Mohd Inam, Mehboob Alam (dead now), Naseem Ahmad, Amit Jain, Vikas Agarwal, Mohd Wajid, Mukesh Jain, Puneet Jain, and other unknown public servants and persons.
A senior ED official said huge illegal money transaction was suspected to be involved in the entire process.
The FIR is related to illegal renewals of sand mining leases in Saharanpur by the district and the state officials in collusion with lease holders and other unknown entities.
Earlier, the CBI had carried out comprehensive searches at 11 locations, including the residences of two IAS officers and other beneficiaries in Lucknow, Saharanpur and Dehradun on October 1, 2019. The CBI officials had seized Rs 15 lakh from the resident of Singh from his Lucknow residence as well as documents related to residential and commercial plots.