ED seizes Rs 75 lakh cash, documents of 200 bank accounts, 50 shell firms of gangster Atiq Ahmad
The federal agency said, “Deeds of more than 100 properties in the name of close associates and firms of Ateeq Ahmed have also been found. These properties are suspected to be benami properties of Ateeq.” Cash transactions of more than Rs 50 crore have also been detected in the raid. Documents of properties procured (forcibly) from farmers apparently through criminal intimidation have also been found.” The agency on Wednesday summoned Atiq and his relative Khalid Zafar, his lawyer-cum-accomplice Saulat Hanif Khan, his associates Asad, Wadud The searches were conducted at the premises of Ahmed, Kali, Mohsin, Chartered Accountant Sabih Ahmed, Chartered Accountant Asif Jafri, Sitaram Shukla (Accountant), real estate developers Sanjeev Aggarwal and Deepak Bhargava.
The PC ED raids were part of the ongoing money laundering probe against Atiq and his associates. The raids were conducted when Ahmed was being brought from Sabarmati Jail in Gujarat to Prayagraj to be produced before a local court in connection with the Umesh Pal murder case. The case in which Ahmed is facing trial pertains to the murder of Pal and his two police security guards, who were shot dead outside their house in Prayagraj’s Dhumanganj area on February 24 this year.
On a complaint by Pal’s wife, the Uttar Pradesh police had on February 25 registered an FIR against Ahmed, his brother Ashraf, his wife Shaista Parveen, two sons, Guddu Muslim and Ghulam and nine others. In 2021, the ED had attached immovable and movable assets including land and money in several bank accounts worth Rs 8.14 crore belonging to mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his wife in a money laundering case. The land situated at Mauja Katka, Pargana Jhunsi, Tehsil Phulpur was attached in the name of Ahmed’s wife Shaista Parveen. It was bought by Ahmed for only Rs 4.5 crore, which is much less than the government’s price of Rs 6.86 crore. Besides this, the ED had also attached 10 bank accounts of Ahmed and Rs 1.28 crore lying in one account of Shaista Parveen.
The ED initiated the probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after taking cognizance of several FIRs against Ahmed in various police stations relating to murder, extortion, cheating, forgery, land grab and offenses of similar nature. Following its probe under the PMLA, the ED said that Ahmed used to earn black money in cash through criminal activities and deposited the same in several bank accounts of the gangster, his relatives and close associates. It has been observed by the ED that these funds are being deposited in his accounts from various firms and companies of his associates, the ED had earlier said, “These funds have been used to purchase land in the name of his wife .The return value is much less than the government value”. The ED has said that it had collected data from the IT department and other agencies related to the companies run by Ahmed’s associates.
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