PATNA: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday arrested senior Bihar cadre IAS officer Sanjeev Hans and former RJD MLA Gulab Yadav in connection with a money laundering case.
A team of officials from the federal agency conducted a raid at the IAS officer’s official residence in Patna and took him into custody. Gulab Yadav, former RJD MLA from Jhanjharpur in Madhubani district, was detained in New Delhi under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The arrest followed a few hours of searches carried out at three different locations related to the 1997-batch IAS officer in Patna and New Delhi. Hans, who had recently been posted as principal secretary in state energy department, was removed from there after complaints of corruption were made against him.
Sources said that the senior bureaucrat and the former legislator were arrested for being involved in corrupt practices.
The money laundering case stems from an FIR lodged by the Bihar police. The special vigilance unit of the Bihar police lodged a case on the recommendation of ED, which had found evidence of financial irregularities against Sanjeev Hans.
Last month, ED conducted searches at the premises of associates and other people with whom the IAS officer had financial dealings. Raids were conducted at five locations in New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata from September 10 to 12.
During the search operation, the agency stumbled upon cash amounting to Rs.87 lakh, 13 kg of silver bullion worth Rs.11 lakh and 2 kg gold bullion and jewellery worth Rs.1.5 crore.
In addition, several incriminating documents were seized. The probe team had also collected evidence of transactions of money through hawala. In July and August, searches were conducted in New Delhi, Pune, Haryana and Punjab wherein various incriminating evidence, including gold jewellery and costly watches worth Rs.80 lakh and Rs.70 lakh respectively were seized from the premises of the IAS officer.