The Enforcement Directorate raided more than 25 locations in UP, Gujarat, and Jharkhand over 40 hours, over a large illicit money laundering cough syrup racket.
Officials found that over 700 fake firms were set up in the name of 220 operators. The firms were found to be generating billions of rupees. In the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), 67 people were named as accused in the case.
It was found to be the state’s largest codeine-based cough syrup diversion and trafficking racket.
Factories, warehouses, and residences linked to the accused were raided.
The firms existed only on paper, and many of their authorised individuals were also only found on documents.
ED sources said that more of the key links in the firms were being exposed, which will lead to more evidence.
The body is also moving to seize assets from the masterminds behind the racket, Subham Jaiswal, Alok singh, another man who is a close associate of a former MP, and Amit Tata managed to get away last year eve after the STF conducted an investigation.
ED sources said that large cash transactions were found in the bank accounts of Subham Jaiswal and the other two names. Subham’s father, Bhola Prasad Jaiswal, is also a person of interest in the case.
Some of the firms involved in the transactions were in Ranchi and Ahmedabad. In Uttar Pradesh, locations in Lucknow, Saharanpur, Varanasi, and Ghaziabad.
The ED’s ECIR enables the agency to summon suspects, freeze bank accounts, seize evidence, and attack properties acquired through illicit proceeds. The report was based on 24 FIRs registered over the past year by UP police, STF and FSDA across districts.
Subham Jaiswal, who is the alleged mastermind behind the racket, was issued a notice to appear before the ED on December 8. More summons are expected as the financial probe expands.
