ED attaches assets worth Rs 3.88 cr of former IT Addl Director

New Delhi, July 24 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached properties and other assets, worth Rs 3.88 crore, of Neeraj Singh, the then Additional Director of Income Tax (Investigation) posted at Kolkata, and others in connection with a money laundering probe.

Moveable and immoveable properties of Singh and his associates, attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), include a residential property worth Rs 3.15 crore in Mumbai and bank balances amounting to Rs 73.16 lakh.

The ED registered a case under under the PMLA on the basis of FIR filed by Kolkata Police against Singh, Govind Agarwal and others. In its FIR, the Kolkata Police alleged that Singh, by wrongfully using his power as a public servant, obtained huge amount of money through illegal gratification and other than legal remuneration.

“Money laundering investigation revealed that Singh kept Agarwal as his front man and laundered the so obtained proceeds of crime through number of bank accounts of various companies,” the ED said in a statement.

It also alleged that Agarwal acted as frontman of Singh and used to park his ill-gotten money into his companies. Agarwal also used to compensate Singh’s personal expenses including flight tickets, travels and tours as well as hotel expenses, it said.

Investigation under PMLA also revealed that Singh had acquired a residential property in Mumbai in 2014 in the name of one of his relative, it said. It also said that for acquiring the property, the IRS officer routed his ill-gotten money through a number of companies floated by Agarwal and finally placed them into the accounts of his relative in guise of loans extended from a company.

The ED also said that Singh was also found to possess and use bank accounts of his relatives, which were utilised for acquiring proceeds of crime.

–IANS

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