The Enforcement Directorate claimed on Friday that it has seized Rs 32 lakh and $10,000 from the official residence of Trinamool Congress MP KD Singh in New Delhi, as well as from a few other locations, PTI reported. The seizures were made as part of money laundering investigations against the Rajya Sabha MP.

The Enforcement Directorate said searches were conducted on Thursday at seven locations in Delhi and Chandigarh, including at registered offices of 14 companies of the Alchemist Group. The group, the agency said, was “related to and controlled by” Singh.

“During searches, a number of documents reflecting the circular nature of transactions, digital evidences and property documents were seized at the official residence of Kanwar Deep Singh in Delhi and cash of Rs 32 lakh along with foreign exchange worth $10,000 was found and seized,” the Enforcement Directorate said in a statement.

The agency said it also searched Singh’s house in Chandigarh and those of two directors of the firm in the city. Two money laundering cases have been registered against Singh and his group.

“Singh through companies raised huge amount of money from thousands of customers in the garb of investments by luring them with high returns and also against sale and booking of plots and flats,” the Enforcement Directorate said about the first money laundering case. “So far, investigation has revealed that these funds raised from public were not used for the intended purpose and were diverted or siphoned off to various group companies.”

The group companies, in turn, transferred the money in a circular manner to defraud the public, the agency alleged. “Further, various web of entities involved in this process are having dummy directors. These directors have no idea of the purpose for which the said money was being collected and transferred.”

Singh had resigned from the post of the chairperson of the Alchemist Group is 2012. However, he was the chairperson emeritus and the founder of the group. Last year, the Enforcement Directorate had summoned Singh in connection with the case.

The second case relates to a firm linked to Singh – Alchemist Infra Realty Limited. The scam, said to be worth Rs 1,900 crore, dates back to 2016, when the Enforcement Directorate had filed a criminal case, taking cognisance of a chargesheet that the Securities and Exchange Board of India had filed against the company and its directors.

The Enforcement Directorate had attached assets worth Rs 239 crore belonging to the firm earlier this year. The investigators allege that the company launched a ponzi scheme, and mobilised funds of about Rs 1,916 crore from the public, before 2015. The firm had allegedly launched the scheme without the approval of SEBI. In 2015, it told the market regulator that it had refunded Rs 1,077 crore and sought more time to refund the rest of the amount. However, SEBI declined the firm’s plea.

The Enforcement Directorate’s searches came on the same day that Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met Union Home Minister Amit Shah. However, Singh is said to be sidelined within the Trinamool Congress.

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