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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday conducted searches at five places in Maharashtra's Baramati and Pune districts linked to an alleged multi-crore fraud in the dairy sector.
The raids are underway at the premises belonging to Anand Satish Lokhande, Vidyanand Dairy Pvt Ltd and Vidyanand Agro Feed Pvt Ltd and professionals. The places being searched include two in Baramati, two in Pune and one in the Indapur area in Pune. ED's Mumbai zonal office is conducting the searches under section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act,2022, following its investigation based on three FIRs registered in the Maharashtra police. As per the FIRs, the total alleged financial fraud committed is Rs 108.30 crores. "It is alleged that Anand Satish Lokhande and his family members defrauded various innocent investors through entities such as Vidyanand Dairy Pvt Ltd, Vidyanand Agro Feed Pvt Ltd, and others by projecting the business of these entities as highly profitable ventures generating substantial revenues from dairy operations, cattle feed trading, and milk procurement," officials said. Relying on these representations, the officials, privy to the development, said the complainants invested substantial amounts in various schemes related to the aforesaid activities. "It is further alleged that after obtaining these funds, the accused did not utilise the money for the stated business purposes and instead diverted and circuitously routed the amounts through multiple accounts and entities," they added. Meanwhile in Delhi in a separate case, ED has filed a Prosecution Complaint or chargesheet against former Delhi Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendar Jain and 13 others in a Rs 17.70 crore money laundering case in connection with an alleged corruption case involving the award of four tenders related to Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB). Besides Jain, the then Water Minister of Delhi and Chairman of DJB, the prosecution complaint is filed against the then Delhi Jal Board CEO Udit Prakash Rai, former DJB member Ajay, then Delhi Jal Board Chief Engineer Satish Chandra Vashishth, and other private persons and entities under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. (ANI)
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