ED summons 12 Hazaribagh women in PMLA case: Police

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned 12 women from Jharpo village in Hazaribagh district in connection with the transfer of ₹3.90 crore to their accounts from abroad, a police official at Tatijharia police station said on Saturday.

“Summons were issued two days ago after bank employees detected the transaction and advised them to seek police help by visiting their homes,” the police official said.

One of the women, Sonia Devi, who received the summons, said, “I opened a bank account on the advice of Gudiya Devi during a meeting on January 14, 2023. Gudiya suggested that we and other women open accounts to receive government benefits after vocational training,” she said.

A second police official aware of the notice said 21 women opened accounts in Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank in Hazaribagh.

While Hazaribagh superintendent of police (SP), Arvind Kumar Singh, expressed his ignorance about the matter, saying that he had asked officials of Tatijharia police station to brief him on the matter, a third police official said, “A probe is going on in the matter. The situation arose after an ED raid in Patna.”

“On December 19, 2023, to investigate money laundering involving cyber fraud, a raid was conducted in room number 202 of Adarsh Guest House Satimpur located in Gulzar Bagh, Patna. After the raid, ED caught Nitish Kumar, a resident of East Akhilesh Nagar, Maharani Colony, Gulzar Bagh, Patna. After search and questioning, many names, addresses, passbooks, bank account information, and other information surfaced. Based on this, the ED team conducted a raid in Kolkata on December 28 and arrested Sagar Yadav and Santosh Yadav. Now, women of Hazaribagh have been summoned,” the police official said.

“ED had recovered ₹3 crore in cash and other documents during its investigation,” the police official added.

People close to those who received ED summons said, “Among those who received ED summons include Uma Devi, Bali Devi, Sarita Devi, Sunita Devi, Chameli Devi, Kauleshwari Devi, Veena Devi, Neetu Devi, Sanju Devi, Sonia Devi, Hevanti Devi, and Soni Devi. Most of them are from the Bhuiyan family and are poor.”