Srinagar, Dec 16 – The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached an immovable property in Srinagar, valuing Rs 193.46 Crore, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case related to the financial fraud committed with J&K State Cooperative Bank (JKSTCB), officials said on Friday.
The property in the form of land admeasuring 257 Kanal and 19 Marlas at Shivpora, Srinagar was attached almost three weeks after former J&K Co-operative Bank chairman Mohammad Shafi Dar was arrested in the case along with Mohammad Hilal A Mir, the chairman of the River Jhelum Cooperative Housing Building Society, a “fictitious firm”. The two are in judicial custody till December 20.
The fraud involved sanctioning of loan to the tune of Rs. 250 Crore (disbursement amount Rs. 223 Crore), in 2019, to a fictitious cooperative society- River Jehlum Co-operative House Building Society, Shivpora, Srinagar, (J&K), by the then Chairman of JKSTCB and others.
ED initiated an investigation on the basis of an FIR and consequent chargesheets filed by the anti-corruption body in Srinagar, invoking various sections of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) & Jammu and Kashmir Prevention of Corruption Act (JK PC Act) Samvat 2006 against five accused.
Apart from Hilal Mir and Mohammad Shafi Dar, the other three chargesheets included Abdul Hamid Hajam, Secretary of River Jehlum Co-operative House Building Society; Mohammad Mujeeb Ur Rehman Ghassi, the then Registrar of Cooperative Societies, J&K; and Syed Ashiq Hussain, the then Deputy Registrar of Co-operative Societies, J&K.
The ED investigation revealed that the money derived from the fraud was utilized to acquire the immovable property that was attached. Earlier searches and surveys were also conducted at different locations, and evidence in the form of incriminating documents and digital devices were seized, the ED said in a statement.
Further investigation is in progress, they said.
