Delhi court takes cognizance of charge sheet against Sanjay Rai Sherpuriya in money laundering case

New Delhi [India], August 1 : New Delhi's Patiala House Court on Monday took cognizance of chargesheet filed against Sanjay Prakash Rai 'Sherpuriya' in an around Rs 14.5 crores alleged money laundering case.
Special judge Shailender Malik took cognizance of ED's chargesheet against Sanjay Rai Sherpuriya.
"Having considered the contents of the complaint and the documents, I find that prima facie there is sufficient evidence available on the record for taking the cognizance," the special judge said.
Accordingly, I take cognizance of offence u/s 3/4 of the PML Act, he said in the order on July 31.
The court noted that in the complaint (chargesheet) ED had given the details of proceeds of crime generated and allegedly laundered by the accused to be Rs. 14, 51, 50,000. As such complaint has been filed u/s 3 read with 4 of the PML Act.
ED registered the present ECIR on April 28, 2023. During the investigation, it revealed that the accused Sanjay Prakash Rai was indulged in numerous fraudulent activities of extortion, and cheating.
It is alleged that the accused duped Gaurav Dalmia for Rs 12 crores, by putting him in fear of arrest in ED case out of which Rs 6 crores were deposited to Youth Rural Entrepreneur Foundation (YREF) and Rs 6 crores was taken in cash.
Similarly, the accused also allegedly cheated one Mohit Singh, MD of Shipra Estate Limited, for Rs 1 crore by projecting him to be very close to big politicians.
It is alleged that said Rs. one crore was taken by the accused from Mohit Singh on the ground of getting him a good deal in the sale of land in Lucknow and for settling his financial litigation of loan of Rs 866 crores in Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited.
In a similar manner, the accused allegedly cheated one Naveen Kumar Malhotra, Sunil Chand Goyal etc. as per the complaint, the court noted.
It is alleged that the accused used to portray himself to be close to the Prime Minister and Senior Ministers of the Government of India and cheated several persons by such false claims and earned proceeds of crime which he deposited in bank account of his sons and thereafter such proceeds of crime were further utilized by way of investment in different companies.
ED also said that searches were conducted at different places, during the investigation. Details of different properties and documents have also been given in the complaint.
The court noted that Police Station Vibhuti Khand, Lucknow registered an FIR on April 25 against accused Sanjay Prakash Rai for offence u/s 420, 467, 468, 469 IPC as well as u/s 66D of I.T. Act.
The FIR alleged that for the last several years accused Sanjay Prakash Rai through different names, and different companies has been fraudulently extorting money from different persons by adopting different modes of cheating.
It is alleged that the earlier accused was the Director of several companies including Kandla Energy and Chemical Limited.
It is alleged in that case that the accused has made many IDs with different names and incorporated different companies wherein he made his trusted persons as directors/dummy directors.
Accused of posting his photograph with the Prime Minister of India, and other Central Ministers, on social media like Facebook/Twitter fraudulently deceiving many persons by misleading propaganda of being very close to the Prime Minister and other ministers of the Central Government and by giving false assurance of getting their work done. allegedly cheated many people and collected huge amounts of money by harming the reputation of the Government, the court noted in the order.
It is alleged that accused also registered one private company in the name of the Youth Rural Entrepreneur Foundation. He had not held any position in this company but has been collecting money by promoting himself to be associated with that company on social media and representing himself as a social worker and very close to the Government of India, Ministers etc.
It is alleged that in the investigation of said FIR, the accused was arrested by the UP STF near Kanpur Railway Station. At the time of his arrest, his mobile phones were seized, which allegedly contained various photographs on social media, Twitter, Instagram etc. with certain celebrities, as well as the RSS Chief, Hon'ble Prime Minister and other Ministers of the Government of India to propagate to be influential in Government.
It is also alleged in that case that WhatsApp chat was also found with one Afaq of Ghazipur wherein accused Sanjay Prakash Rai allegedly giving cooperation in a mining contract and investment of Rs 2.5 crores. Besides this, there was also a chat with one Gaurav Dalmia.
The matter has been listed on August 19 for further hearing.
Advocate Naveen Kumar Matta Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) represented ED.
On June 16, he was remanded to judicial custody in Lucknow jail after ED remand. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate from Lucknow Jail.