ED raids 17 places across 5 states; seizes incriminating documents, cash, jewellery worth over Rs 1 crore

New Delhi [India], September 1 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized various incriminating documents related to immovable and movable properties, along with cash and jewellery worth over Rs 1 crore during raids carried out at 17 locations in five states in the fake registry and land fraud case, the agency said on Sunday.
The federal agency conducted these raids on August 30 in Dehradun in Uttarakhand, Saharanpur and Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh, Ludhiana in Punjab, Bongaigaon in Assam, and Delhi, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
"Cash worth Rs 24.50 lakh has been seized and Rs 11.50 lakh has been frozen, which was lying in the bank account. Further jewellery containing diamond gold and silver jewellery valuing Rs 58.80 lakh has also been seized from one of the premises. Also, digital devices such as mobiles, pen drives and other documents related to the banks have been found and seized," said the ED.
The agency initiated an investigation based on several FIRs registered by Uttarakhand Police under various sections of the Indian Penal Code against Kamal Virmani (Advocate) and others for commissions of offence by fabricating the records of property registration in the Revenue Archives.
ED investigation revealed that the accused, in furtherance of criminal conspiracy, fabricated the records of property registration and replaced the fabricated document with the original ones in the revenue archives with the help of employees and workers working in the collector's and registrar's office.
"In most of these cases, the property is first shown to be transferred in the name of relatives of the co-accused who has already passed away and thereafter the accused being the legal heir of the deceased in whose name the property was transferred by way of forged document claim rights over the property," said the ED.