New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate Tuesday charged its former assistant director-level officer, earlier posted at its Shimla office, in a money laundering case, ThePrint has learnt.
Along with officer Vishal Deep, his brother Vikas Deep, a deputy superintendent of police rank officer of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) named Balbir Singh have also been charged under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002. Another accused Neeraj, who allegedly helped Vishal in collection of bribe has also been charged.
The prosecution complaint (charge sheet) was filed before a special court in Chandigarh.
The agency is investigating allegations against the officer of demanding bribes to provide relief to the accused in a scholarship scam in Himachal Pradesh being investigated by the CBI.
In the scholarship scam, multiple institutes had allegedly taken approximately Rs 181 crore from the state government to provide scholarships to fictitious SC/ST students.
In one of the cases, Rajnish Bansal, chairman of the Himalayan Group of Professional Institutions, alleged during the CBI probe, that Vishal Deep has asked him to pay Rs 80 lakh as bribe to ‘settle’ the case against him. In another case, Bhupinder Sharma, chairman of Devbhumi Group of Institutions, alleged that he was asked to pay Rs 85 lakh by Vishal Deep.
After registering the two cases against Vishal Deep, the CBI laid a trap and arrested his banker brother, Vikas Deep, and his associate Neeraj, who allegedly collected a bribe of Rs 55 lakh from the accused in the scholarship case. Weeks later, the CBI also arrested DSP Singh on charges of abetting Vishal Deep in the alleged bid to seek a bribe from the accused under investigation. Later, in January 2025, the agency arrested Vishal as well.
Sources in the ED said that all four accused named in the prosecution complaint filed on Tuesday were interrogated while in judicial custody in the CBI case.
Vishal was granted bail by the Supreme Court in November 2025, while Vikas was granted bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in December 2025. Balbir Singh, on the other hand, has been forced into compulsory retirement.
“Vishal Deep has been identified as the prime accused in the generation of proceeds of crime amounting to approximately Rs 1.10 crore. All these details have been submitted in the prosecution complaint. All the cash and other recoveries made during raids by the CBI were earlier attached as part of the money laundering proceedings,” an ED official told ThePrint, requesting anonymity.
The ED’s prosecution complaint (charge sheet) comes months after the CBI had filed a fresh case disproportionate assets against the brothers.
The ED official conceded that the final quantum of proceeds of crime generated by Vishal will be identified only after the CBI files a charge sheet in the disproportionate assets case against him and his brother.
Another agency official emphasised that Balbir Singh was the facilitator and supervisor of the entire bribery syndicate.
“As the investigating officer in the CBI case, he knew the background and profile of the two accused, who were later asked by Vishal for bribes. He was the supervisor of the entire plot, who oversaw the important decisions such as the applications to be used for communication as well as the place of meetings to fix and collect the bribe amount,” the official told ThePrint.
ThePrint had earlier reported that Vishal, an officer from the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), was on deputation to the ED and had been posted at the Shimla sub-zonal office since November 2023. He was reportedly made the investigating officer of the Himachal scholarship case a couple of months before the scandal broke, after the accused complained to the CBI.
Sources in the agency said that both Vishal Deep and his supervising officer, a Deputy Director, were attached to the agency’s headquarters in Delhi after the case came to light, and that disciplinary proceedings and repatriation processes were also initiated against Vishal Deep.
In the FIR filed in December 2025, the two brothers had a combined assets worth Rs 9.20 lakh by the end of March 2024, which rose to Rs 44.44 lakh by the end of December the same year. They earned a combined income of Rs 40.28 lakh during that period, but spent Rs 98.24 lakh, the CBI’s FIR had alleged.
According to the CBI’s FIR, these assets include a flat in Chandigarh and three cars, including a Jeep Compass and a Volkswagen Virtus, which was allegedly used to collect bribes.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)