ED raids in Maharashtra, Gujarat in bank accounts 'fraud', 'cash-for-votes' case

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday raided multiple locations in poll-bound Maharashtra and neighbouring Gujarat as part of a money laundering probe against a Malegaon-based trader, who allegedly misused bank accounts of various people to carry out transactions worth more than Rs 100 crore.

The federal agency is searching 23 premises in Malegaon, Nashik and Mumbai in Maharashtra and Ahmedabad and Surat in Gujarat under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Polls for the 288 Assembly seats in Maharashtra are slated to be held in a single phase on November 20. The money laundering case stems from a Malegaon Police FIR filed last week against a local trader named Siraj Ahmed Harun Meman, who runs a tea and cold drinks agency apart from some of his associates.

The complainant in the case is a man whose bank account was allegedly misused for illegal transactions triggering speculation that the accounts were misused for routing election funds.

It is alleged that the main accused took KYC details (PAN, Aadhaar etc) of about a dozen people to open bank accounts in the Nashik Merchant Cooperative Bank as he told these persons that he wanted to start a corn business and hence needs to take money from farmers.

The accused allegedly got opened two more accounts taking KYC documents from his friends. These 14 accounts were opened between September and October, according to sources.

The ED has found debit and credit entries worth more than Rs 100 crore each and is now conducting the searches to get more evidence, including the role of some Hawala operatives, the sources said.

A series of more than 2,500 transactions and around 170 bank branches spread in states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Odisha and West Bengal are under the scanner of the ED as funds have either been deposited or withdrawn from these accounts under scanner, the sources said.

The agency suspects that the accused may be using these funds to divert and route funds for some people and companies for money laundering and Hawala trade by misusing the banking credentials of common people by using them as 'mule' accounts.

The angle of misusing the accounts for electoral malpractice are also been looked at. However, no such inputs have been gathered so far, the sources said. The agency is looking for the main accused Siraj Ahmed.

BJP leader Kirit Somaiya had recently flagged this instance in Malegaon calling it a case of 'Vote Jihad scam' where cash was allegedly given to voters in lieu of votes during the forthcoming polls.