ED raids 11 locations in J&K in fake gun licences' scam
Darpan News Desk IANS, 25 Mar, 2022 10:42 AM
Jammu, March 25 (IANS) Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials carried out raids at 11 places in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in connection with the fake gun licences scam in which Rs 2.78 lakh were issued to non-entitled persons.
The ED carried out raids till Thursday evening.
ED sources said teams from Chandigarh, J&K and Delhi started simultaneous raids at 11 locations involving a serving IAS officer and several Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service (JKAS) officers, who served as Deputy Commissioners (DCs) and Additional Deputy Commissioners (ADCs) of various districts between 2013 and 2016.
Searches were conducted at residences of serving and retired officers or officials, including Rajeev Ranjan, IAS, former Kupwara DC; Itrat Hussain, JKAS, former Kupwara DC; Ravinder Kumar Bhatt, JKAS, former Kupwara ADC, since dismissed from government service, Tariq Ather and Gajan Singh, former judicial clerks at the arms section in DC's office in Kupwara district.
Residences of six arms dealers were also raided from where incriminating documents were recovered which reveal that more senior bureaucrats of J&K are involved in the gun licences scam.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is already investigating the case and ED has registered a separate case in this scam to investigate the money laundering and other financial aspects of the scam.
The party alleged that family members of Charanjit Singh Channi, a leader of the Congress, are being targeted in order to create a perception and influence electors into believing that Sardar Charanjit Singh Channi through his family members and the Indian National Congress is involved in the allegations of money laundering.
A complaint against Prateek Yadav, the younger son of Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, had been sent to the investigating agencies in 2021 alleging fake companies being run by him. Prateek Yadav has a brother-in-law, Aman Singh Bisht, the younger brother of his wife Aparna Yadav.
National carrier Air India will commence normal operations to US from Friday, the airline said. On Tuesday, the national carrier said that it will not be able to operate a number of US-bound flights due to the deployment of 5G communications in the US.
Terming the nomination of Mann as a stage managed non-event, the SAD President said AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal never wanted to make Mann the face of the party in Punjab.
As per sources, the ED raided the house of Bhupinder Singh Honey, who is the nephew of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, on Tuesday and Wednesday, seizing around Rs 10 crore in cash from his premises.
On Monday, the political situation in Punjab and the names of probable candidates were discussed in detail at the BJP National Headquarters in Delhi under the chairmanship of party's National President J.P. Nadda, in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah.
