The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday conducted simultaneous searches in three States in connection with its money laundering probe in the illegal iron-ore mining scam estimated to be worth `2,000 crore in Odisha and other States.
The searches were conducted by the Kolkata zonal headquarters of the agency in at least 15 locations in Bhubaneswar, Keonjhar, Rourkela (all in Odisha), Kolkata in West Bengal and Salem and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.
“Multiple teams of the agency assisted by local police conducted the searches at various locations. The action follows a case registered under the Prevention of Money laundering Act,” agency sources said.
ED’s Kolkata office took cognisance of the Justice (retd) MB Shah committee report and also the criminal complaints filed by the Odisha Vigilance Department in these cases of illegal iron-ore mining before registering its own complaint.
The searches were also carried out at the premises of an MlA MlA and a woman mine owner of Odisha against whom the ED has slapped charges of money laundering, the sources said.
The agency is also searching the premises of a Tamil Nadu-based businessman for running illegal iron-ore mining operations in Odisha.
The Odisha Vigilance Department had registered an FIR against these people and their firms in 2012 and filed a chargesheet against them the next year in the scam estimated to be to the tune of `2,000 crore.
The agency has codenamed the search operation as ‘Earth’ and is expected to gather significant material evidence against the accused persons and firms in the money laundering case.
The agency has so far registered three cases to probe money laundering instances in illegal iron-ore mining scam.