New Delhi, Feb 21 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said it has attached properties worth Rs 1.32 crore allegedly belonging to a member of liquor mafia in Bihar’s Ara district. The suspect was also involved in the selling of spurious liquor which killed 21 persons in 2011.
The Central financial probe agency said it has taken the decision to attach properties belonging to Sanjay Pratap Singh and his wife Kiran Devi under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The attached properties include 15 plots of land along with construction on two plots totalling Rs 1.32 crore in the name of Singh and Devi. The ED also attached various bank accounts of Singh and Maa Construction.
The ED initiated the probe on the basis of an FIR and charge-sheet filed by Ara’s Nawada police station against Singh and others.
According to ED officials, Singh was involved in offences related to culpable homicide, cheating and criminal conspiracy. In the surrounding areas of Ara, he was also allegedly involved in illegal manufacturing and selling of spurious liquor which resulted in the death of 21 persons in 2011.
He has been convicted to life imprisonment by a trial Court. During the probe, it was found that Singh had invested the proceeds of crime generated through illegal trade of liquor for acquiring immovable properties in his name and in the name of his wife who has no independent source of income.
The ED said that in 2011, with intention to legalize his tainted income, Singh formed an unregistered firm, Bhojpur Wine Traders, to launder proceeds of crime.
–IANS
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