Money laundering case: ED seizes cars, jewellery and cash after raids on Congress' Haryana MLA

File Photo/PTI

The Enforcement Directorate has seized four luxury cars, jewellery worth Rs 14.5 lakh and Rs 4.5 lakh in cash after raids were conducted against the Congress' Haryana MLA Dharam Singh Chokker and companies "owned and controlled" by him as part of a money laundering case linked to alleged fraud with homebuyers, the agency said on Monday.

The action under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act came after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) launched searches against the Samalkha (Panipat) MLA and others on July 25, it said in a statement.

Eleven locations in Samalkha, Gurugram and Delhi belonging to Sai Aaina Farms Pvt Ltd (presently Mahira Infratech Pvt Ltd) and other group companies of Mahira Group "owned and controlled" by Chhoker and his family were raided.

The money laundering case stems from an FIR by the Gurugram Police against the accused and Sai Aaina Farms Pvt Ltd for "cheating and forgery" as it is alleged to have collected about Rs 360 crore from 1,497 homebuyers under the affordable housing scheme on the promise of providing homes at Sector 68 in Gurugram, near Delhi, the ED said.

The agency also alleged that Chhoker and his sons, Sikander Singh and Vikas Chhoker, and other key employees remained "absent" during the searches and have not joined the investigation till date.

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Meanwhile, the Supreme Court refused to interfere with the Karnataka High Court's order granting an interim stay on a CBI probe against the state's Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar in a corruption case.

A bench of Justice B R Gavai, Justice C T Ravikumar and Justice Sanjay Kumar dismissed the appeal filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation against the February 10 order of the high court in the case.

Additional Solicitor General SV Raju said that the division bench of the high court granted an interim stay on the proceedings despite there being an order in favour of the agency.

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Shivakumar, said the CBI has filed an appeal against an interim order of the high court but refused to challenge subsequent interim orders passed by the division bench of the high court.

The Supreme Court bench then said it is not going to interfere and granted the CBI liberty to request the high court for speedy disposal of the case before it.

On February 10, the Karnataka High Court stayed CBI proceedings in a corruption case against Shivakumar. The HC has also directed the probe agency to submit an action-taken report in the case registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The high court pointed out that the cases registered against Shivakumar were of 2020 and also questioned the CBI on the progress of the investigation over the last two years. The high court had asked the agency when would it file the final report as it stayed the proceedings till the next date of hearing and adjourned the case.

The Income Tax Department raided Shivakumar in 2017. Based on the information provided by the I-T department, the Enforcement Directorate too started its probe against him.

Based on the ED investigation, the CBI sought sanction from the state government to file an FIR against the Congress' Karnataka unit president. The sanction came on September 25, 2019, and the FIR was filed on October 3, 2020. Shivakumar has challenged the FIR in the High Court. (Agencies)