ED BOOKS MISA FOR MONEY LAUNDERING

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday filed chargesheet against RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s daughter Misa Bharti and her husband in a money laundering case.

The probe agency had earlier attached a Delhi farmhouse in connection with its money laundering probe against Bharti and her husband, Shailesh Kumar, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a charge sheet against Rajya Sabha MP and daughter of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, Misa Bharti, and her husband Shailesh Kumar in a moneylaundering case on Saturday.

The charge sheet, filed before a special court in Delhi’s Patiala House court, claimed that the accused tried to launder black money through two brothers – identified as Surendra Kumar and Virendra Jain. “The Jain brothers planned to launder the cash through placement of funds, layering of transactions and final integration into the banking channel,” the ED said.

The enforcement agency alleged that Bharti and her husband created a maze of shell companies with the help of the Jain brothers, a chartered accountant and mediators . A firm called Mishail Packers and Printers, according to them, was allegedly used to launder Rs 1.2 crore for buying a property at 26 Palam Farms in South Delhi’s Bijwasan area. The farmhouse has already been attached by the ED.

In July, the ED conducted raids at Palam Farms – besides the residences of Bharti, her husband and a few others – as part of its probe against the Jain brothers. The brothers were arrested and charge-sheeted by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act earlier this year.

The agency also arrested a chartered accountant, Rajesh Agrawal, who allegedly mediated and provided “Rs 90 lakh to the Jain brothers in advance, so as to invest in Mishail Packers and Printers as share premium”.

The charge sheet is part of the ongoing probe into the alleged use of shell companies by the Jain brothers to route black money into legitimate banking channels.