ED Raids Multiple Locations In Kashmir In J&K Bank Money Laundering Case

The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday conducted multiple raids in Kashmir in connection with a money laundering probe linked to alleged suspicious transactions in the J&K Bank.

The central probe agency covered a total of seven locations-- six in Srinagar and one in Anantnag district-- as part of the searches conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED said it raided Mohd Ibrahim Dar, Murtaza Enterprises, Azad Agro Traders, M & M Cottage Industries and Mohd Sultan Teli who are "involved" in the hospitality and agro-based industries, civil construction and real estate businesses.

"The searches resulted in the recovery of evidence of money laundering as the bank accounts have been found to be used for routing suspicious transactions," it said.

The ED is probing the case after studying an earlier FIR filed by the CID of the UT Police in Srinagar against officials of J&K Bank, unidentified public servants, private persons and others for suspicious transactions in various bank accounts.

The CID FIR, the ED said, alleges that bank accounts were used for routing money of public servants as well as some private parties.

Certain bank officials, in connivance with these public servants, deliberately omitted to raise the alerts as required under anti-money laundering norms, the ED said quoting the CID FIR.

The central probe agency said its probe "so far has revealed that the transactions in many of these bank accounts maintained with J&K Bank were not genuine and these accounts were utilised for the purpose of laundering."

ED sleuths are recording the statement of the people covered in the searches "to unravel the source of huge credits and debits in their accounts".

"Recovered incriminating documents and soft data are also being analysed," it said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.

As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.

Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.

Digital Editor