Agartala: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached assets worth about Rs 2.17 crore in two separate money laundering cases linked to an alleged investment fraud involving impersonation of government officials and an illegal IPL betting syndicate in Tripura, officials said.
In the first case, the ED’s Agartala Sub Zonal Office attached bank balances worth about Rs 1.12 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, through a provisional attachment order issued on July 31.
According to the agency, the attached assets include bank balances held in the names of shell entities allegedly controlled by Utpal Kumar Chowdhury, suspended IAS officer Abhishek Chandra and a private housing company. The ED claimed these assets represented proceeds of crime.
The agency said it initiated the investigation based on multiple FIRs registered by police in West Bengal and Tripura against Chowdhury and his associates for offences including cheating, forgery, criminal breach of trust and impersonation under the Indian Penal Code and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The ED alleged that Chowdhury posed as a senior officer of the Union Home Ministry using fake identity cards and created entities with names similar to government departments and public sector undertakings, including “Directorate of Higher Education, Tripura” and “M/s Bridge & Roof Co.” It also alleged that he took control of a registered trust, Chaltakhali Swamiji Seva Sangha.
According to the agency, businessmen and investors were allegedly induced to invest money on promises of government tenders, mid-day meal supply contracts and profits from the rubber trade, with the funds being routed through bank accounts of these entities.
The ED alleged that the money was later transferred through a network of shell firms, largely withdrawn in cash and partly invested in immovable properties, vehicles and other assets in the names of the accused and their family members.
The agency further alleged that suspended IAS officer Abhishek Chandra received proceeds of crime directly in his personal bank accounts and indirectly through payments made by scheme entities to a private housing company for booking a flat in his name.
With the latest attachment, the total value of assets attached in the case through two provisional attachment orders has reached about Rs 1.63 crore, the ED said.
In the second case, the ED attached movable and immovable properties worth about Rs 1.05 crore in connection with an alleged illegal IPL and cricket betting syndicate operating in Tripura.
The attachment, made through another provisional attachment order dated July 31, covers nine immovable properties and bank balances held in the names of accused Laxman Paul and his wife, Jhuma Dey Paul.
The money laundering probe was initiated based on an FIR registered by Amtali Police Station against Prasenjit Paul and Laxman Paul under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Tripura Gambling Act, 1926.
The FIR followed a search conducted by Tripura Police on May 11, 2023, at the residence of Prasenjit Paul, during which cash worth Rs 93 lakh, a laptop, mobile phones, four debit cards and 17 notebooks containing alleged betting transaction records were seized.
The ED alleged that Prasenjit Paul, in connivance with his maternal uncle Laxman Paul and others, operated an organised betting syndicate linked to IPL and other cricket matches. It further alleged that Laxman Paul and his wife accumulated substantial cash deposits and multiple immovable properties without any disclosed legitimate source of income.
According to the agency, the attached assets include nine agricultural and residential land parcels in West Tripura, a property in Kolkata and bank balances.
Including an earlier provisional attachment order issued on March 16 this year, the total value of proceeds of crime attached in the betting case stands at about Rs 2.43 crore, the ED said.
Further investigation is underway in both cases, officials said.