On Thursday (14th March), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided over a dozen places in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Maharashtra as part of an ongoing money laundering investigation involving former Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prajapati and his family members.
A total of 14 properties in Lucknow and Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, as well as Delhi and Mumbai, Maharashtra, are scheduled to be raided by the authorities. According to reports, at present the raids are underway at SP leader Prajapati’s house in Lucknow. Raids are also underway at properties linked to former cabinet minister Guddi Devi in Lucknow.
The ED’s money laundering case, filed in 2021, after an FIR filed by the Uttar Pradesh Vigilance Department against Prajapati and individuals associated with him on charges of illicit sand mining and possession of disproportionate assets, among others.
In January, the central agency seized four Mumbai flats and various land parcels in Lucknow valued at more than Rs 13 crore of Prajapati, his family members, and companions. The action was taken after the ED conducted searches.
Prajapati, while serving as Uttar Pradesh’s mining minister, allegedly abused his position by acquiring enormous assets in the names of his family members and other close associates/friends that were not commensurate with their known sources of income, according to the ED.
The former minister and his family members allegedly laundered illicit funds earned during his tenure as a minister in the Uttar Pradesh government through a series of “fictitious and sham” transactions and bought several assets.
“He also used bank accounts of his family members to deposit the illegitimate cash, earned by him for his illegal gains,” according to the report.
