Ranchi. Under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted extensive raids at 15 locations of Jharkhand’s famous Chartered Accountant (CA) Naresh Kejriwal and his associates in Ranchi, Mumbai and Surat. This action started at six in the morning and continued till late evening. During this period, Rs 65 lakh in cash, gold and silver coins worth Rs 55 lakh and important documents related to sending money abroad through Hawala network have been found. According to agency sources, Rs 30 lakh in cash was seized from the premises of Girdhar Kejriwal, Rs 10 lakh from the premises of Ajay Kejriwal, and Rs 25 lakh from the premises of Inder Kejriwal. Along with this, gold and silver coins worth Rs 55 lakh were also recovered from the premises of Inder Kejriwal. All these substances found during the search have been confiscated. Preliminary investigation has found evidence of investing more than Rs 1000 crore in several shell companies formed abroad through Hawala and bringing back almost the same amount to India through digital means. This entire process was allegedly done for the purpose of money laundering.
Investigation has also revealed that Kejriwal and people associated with him have been transferring illegal funds to many countries including United Arab Emirates (UAE), America (USA), Nigeria. In Ranchi, ED teams searched the office at Church Complex, office at Panchavati Plaza and residential premises at Lalpur. Parallel raids were also conducted at three premises each in Mumbai and Surat.
According to sources, many important documents and digital data were found in earlier raids conducted by the Income Tax Department. Based on these inputs, ED started investigation under FEMA. Preliminary investigation also revealed that the Kejriwal family has links with real estate and coal business. Naresh Kejriwal’s brother Inder Lal Kejriwal has been the director of Devika Construction and Developers Pvt Ltd and is said to have links with around 11 companies, including K Filaments Pvt Ltd and Shree Shyam Embroideries Pvt Ltd. During the search, ED teams have searched electronic devices, computer data, documents related to foreign transactions and financial records.
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