By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, Aug 3:
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday charge sheeted two conmen who duped people by promising them to get their work done from government departments by posing close to PMO/ED.
As per the statement issued by ED on Wednesday, a charge sheet was filed in Patiala House Court, New Delhi against one Sanjay Prakash Rai who duped people by posing himself close to senior politicians and bureaucrats.
Sanjay Prakash Rai
The accused Rai duped businessman Gaurav Dalmia to the tune of Rs 12 crore by threatening him to arrest in an ongoing investigation conducted by ED, in New Delhi. Others those duped included: Mohit Singh, Managing Director of Shipra Estate Ltd (Rs one crore), Naveen Kumar Malhotra, Director of Bindu Fashion Pvt Ltd (Rs one crore) and Sunil Chand Goyal, Director of Metadesign Solution Pvt Ltd (Rs 51,50,000). Rai projected himself as an influencer, a social worker and associated with PMO.
He had set up the “ Youth Rural Entrepreneur Foundation (YREF) as a non-profit company on February 16,.2019, registered in Karaila, Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh. However, its activities were carried out from House No 1, Delhi Riding Club, New Delhi. He used to ask people to deposit money in the account of YREF.
Earlier, ED had attached Rai’s 19 movable properties worth Rs. 14,54,48,189/- including 18 bank accounts with a balance of Rs 13,96,43,189 and one Mercedes AMG car worth Rs 58,05,000. Rai was in ED custody from June 03 to June 16.
Mohammad Kashif
A charge sheet was also filed in the Special PMLA Court, Ghaziabad,.Uttar Pradesh against Rai’s accomplice Mohammad Kashif on similar charges. The ED initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of FIR registered at Surajpur Police Station, Central NOIDA, Uttar Pradesh. Kashif posed himself close to the officers of PMO and ED and also used his morphed pictures with VVIPs.
During the searches conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA, 2002), at his residence in Sector-107, NOIDA, Uttar Pradesh, a cash amounting to Rs. 1,10,50,000/-, a currency-counting machine and documents related to investigation conducted by various investigation agencies – DRI, Customs, ED, ICAI (Forensic Accounting) etc, against other persons were seized. He used to threaten people based on these documents.
Kashif had extorted Rs. one crore from a businessman in lieu of helping them in a case being investigated by ED. Besides, he had purchased property worth Rs.1.78 crore, for which he had paid Rs.1.05 crore in cash. He was having luxury cars, imported watches, clothes etc and had also made multiple foreign trips without any legitimate source of money. The ED sought permission of the court to confiscate the property seized from the accused.
