VIJAYAWADA: Sleuths of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Hyderabad zonal office, has conducted search operations at 15 locations across Ahilyanagar, Bikaner, Dehradun, Delhi, Dindigul, Guntur, Mumbai, and Roorkee in connection with the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Ghee adulteration case on Wednesday.
In an official release, the ED officials said that searches covered the residential and office premises of Pomil Jain, Vipin Jain, Raju Rajasekaran, Rajesh Mansukhlal Chavda, Apurva Vinaykanth Chavda, Machindra Shantaram Lanke, Ajay Kumar Sugandh, Mahesh Kumar Rohira, and Ashish Agarwal, who were all accused in the case.
During the search operations, cash amounting to Rs 60 lakh was seized. The searches also led to disclosures regarding investments of Proceeds of Crime (PoC) in properties valued at more than Rs 45 crore, apart from details of several immovable properties held in the names of the accused persons and their family members.
The search operations covered dairy plants of AR Dairy Food Pvt. Ltd., Dindigul; Malganga Milk & Agro Products Pvt. Ltd., Ahilyanagar and Bhole Baba Organic Dairy Milk Pvt. Ltd., Roorkee. Various incriminating documents were seized, indicating the use of a complex network of legal entities to facilitate bogus sale and purchase transactions for concealment and layering of proceeds of crime.
ED initiated investigation on the basis of an FIR registered against M/s AR Dairy Food Pvt. Ltd. and others. It is alleged that the accused persons, in conspiracy with certain TTD officials, committed criminal breach of trust, cheating, and caused wrongful loss to TTD by supplying adulterated ghee.
Investigation conducted so far has revealed that the proceeds of crime generated through the supply of adulterated ghee to TTD were subsequently invested in immovable properties through a complex web of interconnected legal entities and business concerns to conceal the illicit origin of funds. Further investigation is under progress.