Lucknow. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday morning raided 10 locations of former BSP MLA Vinay Shankar Tiwari and his close associates located in five cities in the bank fraud case of Rs 754.24 crore and conducted investigations late night. ED teams raided five locations in Lucknow, two in Noida and one each in Gorakhpur, Gurugram and Ahmedabad.
According to sources, during this period, documents related to many fake companies and properties have been found. On the basis of which further investigation is being done. Earlier in November, 2023, ED had seized properties worth Rs 72.08 crore of Vinay Shankar and his family.
Between 2012 and 2016, a credit limit of Rs 1129.44 crore was taken from a consortium of seven banks in the name of the former MLA’s construction company Gangotri Enterprises. It was alleged that huge amounts were diverted to other companies. Due to which banks suffered a loss of Rs 754.24 crore. The role of 31 promoters and guarantors was also revealed in the investigation by Bank of India, which was leading the consortium. Earlier, Delhi CBI had registered a case in this matter and also raided the premises of Vinay Shankar Tiwari and his close ones.
ED had filed a case against Vinay in 2021
In January 2021, ED started investigation by registering a case against Vinay Shankar Tiwari and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The properties worth Rs 72.08 crore seized by ED included 27 properties located in Lucknow, Gorakhpur and Maharajganj. Investigation has revealed that many benami properties were also purchased by diverting the money defrauded from the bank through fake companies.