NEW DELHI: In simultaneous multi-city raids, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday searched former BSP legislator Vinay Shankar Tiwari’s properties in Mumbai, Delhi, and at least nine other locations in Uttar Pradesh over a Rs 1, 500 crore bank loan fraud, an official said on Monday.
Offices of Gangotri Enterprises Limited, a firm promoted by Tiwari, were searched in a coordinated action at five locations in Lucknow and one each in Gorakhpur, Noida, Sitapur, and Maharajganj, apart from Delhi and Mumbai.
The search operations resulted in the recovery and seizure of several digital devices, various incriminating documents, and details of various movable and immovable assets, said an official.
Tiwari’s company, already booked by the CBI in a corruption case, is suspected to have diverted and laundered the Rs 1, 500 crore it got as loans from a consortium of banks.
Gangotri Enterprises Limited is also allegedly involved in furnishing forged documents to seek loans, said an official.
Tiwari had served as a BSP legislator before joining the Samajwadi Party. He is the son of the late strongman and former UP minister Hari Shankar Tiwari.
In February 2024, the ED conducted search operations at 10 locations in Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Noida, Ahmedabad, and Gurgaon in connection with the alleged bank fraud by Gangotri Enterprises Limited and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Even on that occasion, the ED sleuths had searched the residential and commercial properties of Tiwari, along with other directors and contractors of GEL to trace and unearth the proceeds of crime.
The ED initiated an investigation after the CBI registered an FIR over the GEL’s alleged bank fraud of Rs 754 crore in collusion with its directors/promoters/guarantors.
ED investigation revealed that the loan money was diverted and misappropriated by way of siphoning off to various related concerns operated and controlled by the main promoter of the company, Tiwari, and his family members and relatives, causing wrongful loss to the consortium of banks.
Many of his relatives are either directors, shareholders, or guarantors in the company M/s GEL. In this case, a Provisional Attachment order was issued in November 2023, attaching various properties worth Rs 72.08 crore.
During the searches last year, the ED found that funds were diverted under the garb of investment and interest-free loans, and advances were given to its group companies by GEL.
Some high-value properties were also transferred to Benami/paper entities without any consideration when the loan account turned into a non-performing asset (NPA).