NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out raids at multiple locations in Arunachal Pradesh on Friday and seized about Rs 2.2 crore in cash as part of a money laundering probe linked to an alleged Trans-Arunachal Highway compensation scam.
Six premises in Itanagar and one each at Likabali (Lower Siang district) and Aalo (West Siang district ) were raided under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
"These include the locations of Deputy Commissioner, DLRSO (District Land Revenue and Settlement), assessment officials, apart from private beneficiaries and conduits", the officials said.
The Trans-Arunachal highway compensation scam case pertains to large-scale irregularities in assessment, certification and disbursement of land acquisition compensation involving public servants and private beneficiaries.
The project covered a stretch of 157.70 km spread across the Yachuli, Ziro and Raga sectors.
“Probe found that the Deputy Commissioner, Ziro initially prepared a compensation estimate of Rs 289.40 crore for the Potin-Bopi stretch,” the official said.
"However, in a state-level meeting, the compensation package was frozen and restricted to Rs 198.56 crore", the ED officials added.
The officials also said that during the disbursement of the compensation amount, funds were diverted to savings accounts and many cheques were issued to fake beneficiaries, which resulted in a loss of Rs 44 crore to the exchequer.
The misdeed was carried out by preparing and certifying inflated and fictitious assessments of structures in the Yazali sector of the Trans-Arunachal Highway (Potin-Bopi) project.