Bhopal, Dec 16 The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at Congress leader Vishal Agnihotri's residence and office premises in Indore on Monday while arresting him from Indore airport.
The ED carried out searches in connection with an alleged betting scam which unfolded in June this year in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain.
Agnihotri, who is acting president of the Indore district Congress unit, was detained from Ahilyabai Airport in Indore when he was preparing to leave for Dubai.
He is said to be close to Congress veteran and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath.
When the ED team arrived at Agnihotri’s residence in the Chandan Nagar area in the city, they learnt that he had left for Dubai. However, the ED team along with local police arrested him at the Airport minutes before his departure.
The Congress leader was detained in connection with his alleged link with Piyush Chopra, a bookie who was arrested along with others during a raid in Ujjain in June.
Heavy police force and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were also been deployed outside Agnihotri's residence, while ED sleuths carried out a search till late Monday evening.
Notably, on June 14, the state police busted a cricket betting nexus operating from Ujjain and arrested 10 people. During the operation, cash amounting to Rs 14.58 crore, 41 mobile phones, 19 laptops, and several national and international SIM cards were recovered.
The main accused Piyush Chopra was found in possession of 3,000 bundles of Rs 500 notes, 7 kilograms of silver, and foreign currency from seven different countries. Sources say the authorities had to use machines to count the seized cash, which took the entire night.
ED had also conducted raids at multiple locations, including Indore and Raisen two weeks ago. One of the businessmen, who was targeted for ED's search, had in fact died by suicide along with his wife in the Sehore district.
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