The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday carried out searches at 10 places in reference to a cash laundering case involving Samajwadi Celebration chief and former MLA Vinay Shankar Tiwari. The raids have been carried out at premises linked to Gangotri Enterprises, a agency promoted by Tiwari.

Search operations have been carried out in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Mumbai. These included 5 places in Lucknow and one every in Noida, Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Sitapur, Delhi, and Mumbai.

Gangotri Enterprises is below investigation in reference to a Rs 1,500 crore financial institution mortgage fraud case. The CBI has already registered a case in opposition to Tiwari and different administrators of Gangotri Enterprises for allegedly defrauding the banks to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore. CBI has alleged that the BSP MLA took loans from banks and invested the cash elsewhere.

The ED has now filed a case below the Prevention of Cash Laundering Act (PMLA) based mostly on a criticism filed by a consortium of banks led by Financial institution of India. The criticism alleged that the mortgage quantities have been misappropriated and used for functions apart from said, thereby defrauding the banks.

Vinay Shankar Tiwari, son of late strongman politician Hari Shankar Tiwari, had earlier served as an MLA from the BSP earlier than becoming a member of the Samajwadi Celebration. He had allegedly taken a number of loans from numerous banks within the title of Gangotri Enterprises, an organization concerned in securing authorities contracts.

Additional investigation is underway.