The Enforcement Directorate has attached the assets of a liquor Mafioso, Sanjay Pratap Singh, who sold spurious liquor resulting in the death of 21 persons in Bihar. He has been convicted to life imprisonment by the trial court.
The properties, worth about Rs.1.32 crore on paper, belongs to Singh and his wife, Kiran Devi.
Culpable homicide
The ED’s money laundering probe is based on an FIR and a chargesheet filed by the Bihar police against the liquor mafioso and others. They were accused of indulging in culpable homicide, cheating and criminal conspiracy in Bihar’s Ara.
The agency alleges that Singh had invested the ill-gotten money in immovable properties. In 2011, with the intention of legalising his tainted income, he formed an unregistered firm, Bhojpur Wine Traders. He also got into construction business, through a company named Maa Construction.
Action against ‘Naxals’
Immovable and movable properties worth ₹1.15 crore of Arvind Yadav and his family members have been attached by the agency. It is alleged that Yadav is an “active member” of the CPI (Maoist) and is an absconder. He was named in 61 FIRs registered in Bihar.
In some cases, the police have already filed chargesheets under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Criminal Law Amendment Act, alleging extortion.
The ED has attached assets of two more alleged Naxal leaders, Abhijeet Yadav and Pintu Rana. While Yadav is linked to 55 FIRs registered in Jharkhand and Bihar, Rana has been named in 76 FIRs and chargesheets filed by the Jharkhand police. Cash rewards have been announced for his arrest.
The agency had earlier attached the properties of some alleged Naxal leaders of Bihar and Jharkhand, including Sandeep Yadav, Pradumn Sharma, Musafir Sahni, Vinay Yadav and Vinod Kumar Ganju.
