New Delhi, Dec 1 A day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out searches at eight locations in Jammu and Kashmir in connection with the alleged fraudulent sanctioning of loan by J&K State Co-operative Bank to the tune of Rs 250 crore in 2019 to a fake cooperative society, the agency on Friday said that it has arrested two people, including the then chairman of the bank.
The ED in a statement said that it arrested Mohammad Shafi Dar, the then Chairman of the bank and Hilal Ahmad Mir, Chairman of River Jehlum Co-operative House Building Society under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED case is based on the FIR and consequent chargesheets filed by Law Enforcement Agency (LEA), Srinagar invoking various sections of Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) and Jammu and Kashmir Prevention of Corruption Act (JK PC Act) Samvat 2006 (Corresponding to IPC and PCA) against five accused persons -- Hilal Ahmad Mir; Abdul Hamid Hajam, Secretary of River Jehlum Co-operative House Building Society; Mohammad Mujeeb Ur Rehman Ghassi, the then Registrar of Cooperative Societies, J&K; Syed Ashiq Hussain, the then Dy. Registrar of Co-operative Societies, J&K; and Mohammad Shafi Dar, the then Chairman of the bank.
The ED said that during probe it was found that all the accused persons had managed to "fraudulently" get the sanction of a loan of Rs 250 crore from the bank in the name of a fake society, River Jhelum Co-operative House Building Society.
“The same (loan money) was siphoned off as payments made towards purchase of land parcels, without any collateral security and overlooking all regulatory procedures, and in pursuance of the criminal conspiracy relating to offence of money laundering under PMLA, 2002,” the ED said.
It said that during searches, several incriminating documents, property documents, including digital devices, have been recovered and seized.
Both the arrested accused were produced on Friday before the Special PMLA Court, Srinagar, which sent them to ED Custody till December 2.
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