ED conducts raids in various states in connection with Rs 1,500-crore Gomti riverfront laundering case

LUCKNOW/NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate Thursday conducted multiple searches across various states in connection with its money laundering probe into the Rs 1,500-crore Gomti riverfront development project in Uttar Pradesh’s capital city Lucknow, official sources said.

The project was begun by the previous Samajwadi Party (SP) dispensation.

Sources said the raids were being carried out in various premises of the accused and their associates in Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow and Noida), Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan by a team of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials assisted by local police.

The teams are looking for documents and evidence, they said. The central probe agency had filed a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in March last year. The ED case was filed after taking cognisance of a CBI FIR.

The CBI had taken over the investigation after the present Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh ordered an inquiry into the beautification project of the Gomti riverfront.

The Yogi Adityanath government had asked for an investigation into irregularities committed with a “criminal intent” in the implementation of the Gomti River Channelisation Project and the Gomti River Front Development by the state’s Department of Irrigation.

The CBI had filed an FIR against then chief engineers Gulesh Chandra, S N Sharma, Qazim Ali, then superintendent engineers Mangal Yadav, Akhil Raman, Kamaleshwar Singh, Roop Singh Yadav and executive engineer Surendra Yadav. Gulesh Chandra, Mangal Yadav, Akhil Raman and Roop Singh Yadav have retired. With agency inputs