ED raids office, residence of former MP Bansal’s nephew in Chandigarh
The move is said to be part of a broader probe into financial irregularities, though ED sources have clarified that the raid is unrelated to Pawan Kumar Bansal
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday conducted raids at the residence and office of prominent city-based businessman Vijay Singla in connection with alleged money laundering activities. Singla is the nephew of four-time Chandigarh member of Parliament Pawan Kumar Bansal.
The ED team reached house number 105 in Sector 28 and SCO number 118-119 early morning and continued the search operations till late evening. The premises remained sealed throughout the day, with no one allowed to enter or exit during the search operation. The move is said to be part of a broader probe into financial irregularities, though ED sources have clarified that the raid is unrelated to Bansal.
As per officials privy to the matter, ED officials seized several indiscriminating documents during the raid and will scrutinise them.
Action comes after Singla named in infra firm’s financial fraud
As per information, a ₹4,500 crore loan was taken by the GTL Infrastructure Limited company from a consortium of banks headed by IDBI Bank between 2009 and 2012. The forensic audit of the firm revealed that the firm had paid an advance amount of more than ₹1,142 crore to the vendors for the purchase of material, but the audit revealed that the material purchased was much less than the payment made to the vendors and the amount paid was many times more.
The company made most of the loan taken from the consortium of 24 banks disappear by conspiring with some vendors and bank employees.
In 2022, the matter reached the CBI and in January 2023, the probe agency registered a case against the directors of GTL Infrastructure Limited and unknown bank officials among others under various sections, including fraud for embezzling loan amount of ₹4,760 crore from 24 different banks. In this case, many people including the former Railway minister’s nephew, Vijay Singla, were named. Soon after this, ED also began a probe after registering a case against the company directors and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Singla, a well-known businessman in Chandigarh, runs JTL Group, which is engaged in multiple business ventures. While his name had surfaced in the infamous Railway bribery case in the past, ED officials have reportedly indicated that Wednesday’s action pertains solely to financial transactions and complaints linked to suspected money laundering.
