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Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Bhopal has taken physical possession of confiscated properties worth crores linked to forest ranger Harishankar Gurjar and others in a money laundering case, stated an official release on Friday.
The properties are in the form of two independent houses situated at Minal Residency, in the state capital Bhopal. "ED initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the Lokayukta Police, Bhopal under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and IPC, 1860 against Harishankar Gurjar (a Ranger in Forest Department, Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh) and his wife Seema Gurjar on the grounds that they were in possession of assets disproportionate to their known sources of income," the release read. "ED investigation revealed that the money trails ascertaining and identifying the Proceeds of Crime (POC) and various immovable properties of Harishankar Gurjar, wife Seema Gurjar and their son Abhishek Gurjar which were found to be involved in money laundering. Therefore, the same were provisionally attached under the provisions of PMLA, 2002, and was subsequently confirmed by the Learned Adjudicating Authority, PMLA," it added. Subsequently, the Special PMLA Court in Bhopal, after conducting the trial, vide its order dated April 29, 2023, convicted Harishakar Gurjar and Seema Gurjar and sentenced them to 3 years of rigorous imprisonment and also ordered the confiscation of the attached properties. The confiscation order was subsequently upheld by the High Court and thereafter by the Supreme Court vide order dated January 15, 2025, which includes aforesaid two properties. Accordingly, physical possession of the aforesaid properties has been taken by the Directorate. (ANI)
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