ED raids premises of Rajya Sabha MP KD Singh

NEW DELHI: The ED on Thursday night conducted searches at several premises of Rajya Sabha MP KD Singh in Delhi and Chandigarh, in connection with a money-laundering probe with respect to the Rs 1,900 crore Alchemist Infra Realty Limited Ponzi Scheme, a senior official said.

The searches were conducted at Singh's government bungalow in Delhi and in premises related to the chit fund company in Chandigarh. According to the Enforcement Directorate, Singh has failed to respond to around 20 summons issued by the probe agency to him.

The ED had initiated a money-laundering probe against Singh's Alchemist Infra Realty Limited in 2016 after taking cognisance of chargesheet filed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), which said that the firm ran a collective investment scheme without the required permission.

According to SEBI, the company had collected more than Rs 1,900 crore from unsuspecting investors in the years before 2015 without taking permission from the regulator and thus cheated gullible investors.

The ED had earlier this year attached Singh's properties worth Rs 238 crore in connection with this probe, which included a resort in Kufri, a showroom in Chandigarh, properties in Panchkula and Haryana and several bank accounts.

While KD Singh was associated with the Trinamool Congress when he switched from his earlier Jharkhand Mukti Morcha party, Singh has not had any involvement or any contact with members of the TMC or the party itself in the last two years.