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In two separate money laundering cases, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached immovable and movable assets worth Rs 7.90 crore in Punjab, the agency said on Monday.
The immovable properties seized included 27 land and buildings belonging to Punjab-based drug dealer Gurdeep Singh Rano having foreign links, a medical shop owner Rajesh Kumar and others named in these cases. The properties were attached under the Prevention of Money-laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in two Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) cases pertaining to Gurdeep Singh Rano, Rajesh Kumar and others. The attached assets include 16 immovable properties consisting of land and building in Punjab pertaining to Rano and his family members and 11 immovable properties consisting of land in Punjab pertaining to Kumar and his family members. The assets attached also included movable properties like balance in bank accounts, cash and gold ornaments. ED initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of the First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Special Taskforce of Punjab Police under various sections of the NDPS Act, Indian Penal Code and Arms Act. "It was also alleged that said Gurdeep Singh Rano had links with other suspected illicit drugs smugglers, namely Simranjit Singh and Tanvir Bedi, who are residing abroad," said the ED. ED initiated a money laundering investigation against Kumar and others on the basis of an FIR registered by the Punjab Police under NDPSAct, 1985. As per the FIR against Kumar, he was selling intoxicant drugs in the guise of a medical store run by him, the ED said. ED investigation revealed that in both PMLA cases, most of the immovable properties were bought in cash wherein the accused were not able to produce any documentary evidences in support of source of cash. "The investigation further revealed that in some cases, cash was deposited in the bank accounts of known persons to layer the proceeds of crime for purchasing immovable properties," officials added. (ANI)
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