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The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) raided ten locations across Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana including the residence of Samajwadi Party leader Vinay Shankar Tiwari in a money laundering case linked to an alleged bank fraudulent on Friday.
The federal agency's Lucknow zone in Uttar Pradesh is conducting the search operations under section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the case of the alleged bank fraud pertaining to Gangotri Enterprises Limited. The company is into the construction of roads, operations of toll plazas and govt contracts. The main promoters of the group are Vinay Shankar Tiwari, Rita Tiwari and Ajeet Pandey. According to sources, the raids were conducted at 10 premises linked to the accused persons involved in the case in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow, Gorakhpur and Noida, Gujarat's Ahmedabad and Gurugram in Haryana. The searches are still underway, the sources said. In November, the ED had attached 27 immovable properties worth Rs 72.08 crore in Lucknow, Maharajganj and Gorakhpur districts belonging to accused promoters, directors and guarantors of Gangotri Enterprises Ltd under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. As per the agency, the properties attached then were in the name of the late Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Hari Shankar Tiwari's son and former MLA from Gorakhpur's Chillupar seat Vinay Shankar Tiwari, his family members and relatives who are directors, promoters and guarantors in the company. The ED initiated the investigation based on the First Information Report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation, AC-V, New Delhi against Gangotri Enterprises Ltd and its promoters, directors and guarantors. The probe revealed that Gangotri Enterprises Ltd in collusion with its promoters, directors and guarantors fraudulently availed credit facilities to the tune of Rs 1,129.44 crore from a consortium of seven banks led by the Bank of India. It was further revealed that the said credit facilities were not repaid and grossly diverted and misappropriated by Gangotri Enterprises Ltd. and its promoters, directors and guarantors in violation of banking norms causing wrongful loss to the tune of Rs 754.24 crore to the consortium of banks. (ANI)
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