ED Raids: The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday raided premises linked to former Punjab cabinet minister and Congress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu and some others as part of a money laundering investigation, official sources said.

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About 10 premises in Ludhiana and nearby locations are being searched by the ED officials under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), along with a security escort of the CRPF, a central paramilitary force.

The raids are also being conducted at premises of some close associates of the former minister, including former Ludhiana Improvement Trust chairman Raman Subramanian and former municipal councillor Sunny Bhalla, they said.

Also Read: ED seizes Rs 26 lakh following raids in Madhya Pradesh in money laundering case

The ED probe against the Congress politician is linked to alleged irregularities and allegations of receiving kickbacks through conduits for compromising tender for food procurement and transportation, its quality and conditions.

The PMLA case is based on a Punjab vigilance bureau FIR in which Ashu was also arrested earlier. He was later granted bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The bureau had registered a case against Ashu in connection with the alleged irregularities in the allotment of tenders for labour, cartage and transportation for lifting of foodgrains in Ludhiana.

Ashu is a former minister for food, civil supplies and consumer affairs of Punjab and is the working president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC).

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