PATNA: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday carried out searches at 19 areas throughout 4 states in reference to a ₹85 crore mortgage fraud case during which former Bihar minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Alok Kumar Mehta is an accused.
Safety personnel stand guard throughout a raid by the Enforcement Directorate at premises linked to RJD MLA and former Bihar minister Alok Kumar Mehta. (PTI)
The federal company is probing cash laundering allegations in reference to the mortgage fraud at Vaishali Shahari Vikas Cooperative Financial institution (VSVCB) based by Mehta’s father again within the Nineteen Eighties. The fraud was detected throughout an inspection by a Reserve Financial institution of India (RBI) crew which allegedly discovered proof of the financial institution disbursing loans price ₹85 crore to 383 pretend beneficiaries between April 2020 and December 2022.
A primary info report (FIR) was registered by Vaishali’s City police station in opposition to the financial institution supervisor Syed Shahnawaz Wazih, chief govt officer Vipin Tiwari and chairman Sanjeev Kumar the City police station of Vaishali district.
On December 30, RBI cancelled the licence of the financial institution and ordered it to cease banking operations.
In accordance with an ED official, Friday’s raids had been carried out at 9 areas in Bihar’s Patna and Hajipur, one location in Delhi, 5 in Kolkata, and 4 in Uttar Pradesh.
ED officers stated chilly storage corporations run by Alok Mehta additionally had been below the company’s scrutiny. Other than the RJD chief, the searches additionally coated different financial institution functionaries.
Friday’s raids come amid hypothesis that Alok Mehta was being thought of for a promotion within the state unit and will exchange Jagadanand Singh when he steps down on the govt committee assembly on January 18.
Alok Mehta represents Ujiarpur meeting seat within the Bihar meeting and has served as minister for income and land reforms between August 2022 and January 2024 when the RJD was a part of the Nitish Kumar-led coalition authorities. He was additionally a Lok Sabha member from Ujiarpur constituency.
VSVCB, the financial institution on the centre of the ED probe, was based by Alok Mehta’s father, Tulsi Das Mehta, an influential backward neighborhood chief. Alok Mehta succeeded his father as chairman in 1995 and held the place till 2012. At present, Alok’s nephew, Sanjeev Mehta, is listed because the cooperative financial institution’s chairman.
Mehta and the RJD haven’t commented on the raids. JD(U) chief Neeraj Kumar stated it was not a shock since RJD leaders have a historical past of economic misconduct. “The allegations against RJD leaders for being involved in corrupt practices are not new,” he stated.