Over the past few days, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has carried out searches or made arrests in at least four states in connection with separate cases. These include the premises of a close aide of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel in Chhattisgarh; the premises associated with State Finance Minister and senior Congress leader Rameshwar Oraon's son in Jharkhand; and the premises of senior CPI(M) leader and MLA A C Moideen in Kerala. While the agency also arrested a person associated with a case against Ratul Puri, the nephew of former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief K Sudhakaran was questioned in a separate case. The Congress condemned the ED searches and called it “political vendetta”. In an ongoing investigation into the Mahadev App racket, an online gaming platform that allegedly cheated people, the ED on Wednesday conducted searches at about 10 locations, including the premises of Baghel’s political advisor, Vinod Verma, and two officers on special duty at his office. It also searched the premises of a businessman based in Bhilai. Baghel, who celebrated his birthday on Wednesday, tweeted: “Respected Prime Minister and Shri Amit Shah! Thank you very much for the priceless gift you have given by sending ED to my political advisor and my OSD and close friends on my birthday today.” The Congress linked the ED action to the upcoming polls in the state. “Strongly condemn the ED raids on the staff members of Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel. Completely out of the race in the upcoming elections, the BJP is trying its dirtiest tricks to intimidate and rattle the Congress. However, we have the support of 3 crore Chhattisgarhis and such cheap tactics will not affect us, but they only show the BJP’s desperation,” AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal tweeted. “The ongoing ED raids in Chhattisgarh are a clear reaction to all the pre-poll surveys that have predicted a massive rout for the BJP. Our pro-people Congress government will not get bogged down by such threats. We have the power of the people behind us,” Congress's media and publicity department head Pawan Khera tweeted. The ED had started a probe into the case early this year, based on multiple FIRs registered by the state police. Transactions adding up to about Rs 5,000 crore are reported to have taken place through the platform. ED sources said searches were conducted on Wednesday after alleged statements by some suspects in the case that implicated Verma and Baghel’s OSDs. In Jharkhand, where the ED is probing Chief Minister Hemant Soren in connection with an alleged mining scam and some land deals, searches were conducted at the premises of his finance minister Oraon, in connection with a probe against his son, Rohit Oraon. Rohit stays with his father. The case involves alleged irregularities in distribution of liquor licences. A total of 34 premises across Ranchi, Dumka, Deoghar and Godda districts were searched. A liquor baron, Yogendra Tiwari, was among those searched. ED sources said the agency is probing a liquor scam in the state on the lines of the Delhi excise policy case. According to an official, Jharkhand came up with a liquor policy in 2021, but it was subverted through cartelisation, as Yogendra Tiwari allegedly got distribution rights in 19 districts, and Soren’s close aide Prem Prakash allegedly got the rights in seven districts. Prakash was arrested last year in connection with the illegal mining case. “Rameshwar Oraon’s son has investments in the cartel. The money has been routed through Kolkata shell companies,” an ED official said. Separately, the ED arrested one Nitin Bhatnagar on Tuesday in connection with its money laundering probe into a Rs 354 crore bank loan fraud allegedly committed by Moser Baer, a company owned by Kamal Nath's nephew, Ratul Puri. Bhatnagar, a former relationship manager of the Bank of Singapore, allegedly facilitated opening of a bank account for a company called Pristine River Investments Ltd, owned by Savannah Trust, of which Ratul Puri was the “settler”. ED has alleged that Pristine River was used for layering “proceeds of crime” and Bhatnagar “knowingly assisted in doing so for the main accused Ratul Puri”. On Tuesday, the ED also conducted searches at the premises associated with senior CPI(M) leader A C Moideen in Kerala in connection with an alleged case of cooperative bank fraud. The agency is probing an alleged Rs 100 crore fraud in the party-controlled Karuvannur Service Co-Operative Bank Ltd. Sources said Moideen’s name had cropped up in a suspect’s statement. The ED case is based on over 16 FIRs registered by Kerala police in Thrissur district, and a probe has been going on since last year. “The money laundering investigation carried out so far has revealed that multiple bogus loans were sanctioned by the bank on the same property without the knowledge of members of the society. The loan amounts were disbursed in cash, also huge cash deposits were found in books of account of the bank. The Karuvannur Service Co-Operative Bank was also under scrutiny of Registrar of Co-Operative Societies in Thiruvananthapuram. After FIR was registered in July 2021, the Registrar in their audit found diversion of more than Rs 100 crore,” the ED had said in a statement earlier. Meanwhile, the agency on Tuesday also questioned Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief K Sudhakaran in connection with alleged financial fraud committed by antique dealer Monson Mavunkal. Mavunkal, who claims to be in possession of rare and historic antiques, was arrested by the state Crime Branch in September 2021. He is facing charges of having swindled Rs 10 crore from several people.
