New Delhi, Sep 24 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate Tuesday said it has attached flats, and commercial and agricultural plots worth more than Rs 8 crore belonging to former Uttar Pradesh Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Arif Anwar Hashmi and his wife as part of a money laundering investigation.
The properties are located in Lucknow, Balrampur and Gonda districts of the state and a provisional attachment order has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the federal probe agency said in a statement.
The ED case stems from multiple FIRs filed by the Uttar Pradesh Police against Hashmi, a former two-time SP legislator from the Utraula seat in Balrampur district between 2007-17, his brother and some associates on charges of fraud, cheating and criminal conspiracy.
“He (Hashmi) has also been listed as a gangster under the UP Gangsters Act. He has been involved in illegal encroachment and grabbing of land,” the ED said.
After due investigation, the state police filed several chargesheets against Hashmi and others “establishing the offences of illegal encroachment, forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy” against him, the agency alleged.
Hashmi, according to the ED, is involved in the offences of illegal encroachment and land grabbing since 1984.
There have been “several instances” of “tampering” with government documents relating to land records, using ‘gram panchayats’ for changing nature of land and for illegal gain in collusion with others and making huge illegal money by running businesses, colleges over the encroached properties, the ED said.
The attached 21 properties, that include residential flats, commercial and agricultural plots, were “generated from proceeds of crime” and “grossly disproportionate” to the known sources of income of Arif Anwar Hashmi and his wife Rozi Salma, it said.
The total value of the attached assets is Rs 8.4 crore. PTI NES TIR TIR
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