Money laundering case: ED grills Misa Bharti's husband
The ED had on July 8 conducted searches at three Delhi farmhouses of Bharti, Kumar and the firm.
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday questioned RJD MP Misa Bharti’s husband Shailesh Kumar in connection with the Rs 8,000 crore money laundering case. Mr Kumar has been summoned again by the agency for further questioning in connection with the case, sources said.
Mr Kumar, sources said, was confronted with the documents seized by the ED sleuths during recent searches and the statements given by his wife and other accused in the case. He and his wife Misa Bharti, daughter of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, have been grilled in the past too in this case.
He was questioned for his alleged role in a firm, Ms Mishail Printers and Packers Private Limited, his other finances and links with a chartered accountant who was arrested earlier in the case. The agency filed a charge sheet in this case before a Delhi court sometime back and it was expected to file a fresh one soon. Misa, it is understood, could also be summoned again.
The ED had on July 8 conducted searches at three Delhi farmhouses of Bharti, Kumar and the firm. The agency had attached a farm house in Palam sometime back and it was now probing the alleged slush funds used to purchase this asset by the couple, they said.
The latest questioning to Kumar is related to a Rs 8,000 crore money laundering probe being conducted by the agency against two Delhi-based businessmen brothers — Surendra Kumar Jain and Virendra Jain, and others, who are alleged to have laundered several crores of rupees using over 90 shell companies. The Jain brothers were arrested by the ED earlier under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). One of the firms that the arrested duo dealt with was Ms Mishail Printers and Packers Private Limited. Bharti and her husband are alleged to have been directors of this firm in the past.
According to ED officials, it was found that 1,20,000 shares of M/s Mishail Printers and Packers Private Limited were bought during 2007-08 at a rate of Rs 100 per share by four shell companies - M/s Shalini Holdings Limited, M/s Ad- Fin Capital Services (India) Pvt. Ltd, M/s Mani Mala Delhi Properties Pvt. Ltd. And M/s Diamond Vinimay Pvt. Ltd. These 1,20,000 shares, they said, were allegedly bought back by Bharti at Rs 10 per share.