ED to lodge PMLA case against Kanpur businessman Piyush Jain

NEW DELHI: More troubles are looming for Piyush Jain as the Enforcement Directorate is now mulling to lodge money laundering case against the Kanpur based businessman, who was arrested by the GST team for tax evasion.

The Intelligence Unit of GST had raided the premises of Piyush Jain on Sunday. They had to call a Bank employee to count the notes recovered from his house. "It was Rs 250 crore which we recovered from his premise. Piyush could not give any satisfactory answer as to from where he got the money. We have shared information with Income Tax Department and other agencies. ED was also given a set of documents in this respect," said a source.

The source said that now ED will soon lodge a case under relevant sections of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED is currently waiting for a final report of the GST department.

On Sunday, teams of GST and I-T department following a tip off conducted raids at Kanpur, Kannauj and Mumbai. The I-T department is currently making a list of his Benami properties. This will be shared with the ED to decide future course of action.

"We have recovered documents pertaining to his Benami properties worth Rs 300 crore. We have doubt that he was helping few politicians to launder money through Benami properties. The ED officials are in touch with us, once we complete the file, we will give it to ED," said a GST source.

On Sunday, Piyush Jain was arrested by the central agencies on tax evasion charges. A case against him under section 69 of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act was lodged by the central probe agency.