LUCKNOW: Prime land in Dehradun valued at Rs 74 crore and owned by former BSP MLC Mohammed Iqbal and his family was attached by Enforcement Directorate, Lucknow, on Friday under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).
In March, ED had attached seven sugar mills owned by Iqbal and his family valued at Rs 1,097crore under a similar law. CBI had booked Iqbal’s sons, Wajid and Javed, in 2019 for illegal sale of 21 state-owned sugar mills during Mayawati’s regime that scraped state coffers of Rs 1,800 crore.
The money laundering charges followed a probe by Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), ministry of corporate affairs, into Iqbal’s illegal acquisition of assets in 2010-2011. ED, Lucknow Zone, joint director, Rajeshwar Singh, told TOI that Iqbal and his family had fraudulently acquired land at Saharanpur in 2015 in the name of a company, BSS Associates.
Singh said, unaccounted money was deposited in accounts of the former legislator and his family in 2014-15. “This was immediately transferred to the account of a shell firm, Glocal India Industries, which ploughed the money into purchase of shares of BSS Associates,” said Singh.
Iqbal also conducted transactions to maintain a carefully-crafted façade to own land in Dehradun. Apart from cash deposits, entries from shell companies were used to infuse tainted money for purchase of shares of BSS Associates by Glocal India Industries.
The ED joint director also said investigations into the case is underway and more attachments are on the anvil.
