Fresh ED raids in Mumbai, Pune for Hasan Ali 2017 case

Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) teams from New Delhi conducted fresh raids in Mumbai and Pune in a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan in March 2017. Khan has been on ED’s radar in connection with the ongoing money-laundering probe in the 2011 case against him.

The raids were carried out in at least six locations and searches continued till late in the evening on Thursday, sources said. The ED officials refrained from giving details, stating that the raids which started early in the day were still underway. Sources said that the ED teams raided at least four locations in south Mumbai and seizures of documents and other material was likely.

These raids came in the wake of fresh leads in the investigation of the CBI’s March 2017 case against Khan on charges of criminal conspiracy and corruption. CBI registered the case following a complaint from the Income Tax (IT) department.

Previous raids by the ED were carried out in 2016 and in locations in Mumbai, Pune, Gurgaon, Hyderabad and Kolkata, in connection with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) probe. It was then that the ED attached his Pune residence.

Multiple agencies including the research and analysis wing (R&AW) have questioned Khan in connection with his alleged multi-crore monetary transactions and his overseas bank accounts. He came into agency’s radar in 2007, when the officials conducted the first set of searches and found a laptop belonging to him. The data revealed of his overseas bank accounts and the multi-billion dollars worth deposits.

A detailed probe against Khan led to his arrest in 2011 and the IT department’s revelation of Rs 34,000 crore worth tax evasion by Khan, was later revised to Rs 75 crore. Khan has been out on a bail since August 2015.