ED seizes Rs 50 lakh worth of assets in fresh raids against former MP transport department constable

New Delhi: The ED on Monday said it seized bank deposits apart from cash and silver worth over Rs 50 lakh after conducting fresh searches against a former Madhya Pradesh transport department official and his associates in an alleged disproportionate assets-linked money-laundering case.

The raids were undertaken on January 17 in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal and Gwalior, and Pune in Maharashtra in the case against Saurabh Sharma and those linked to him.

Bank deposits worth Rs 30 lakh have been frozen while "unexplained" cash of Rs 12 lakh and 9.9 kilogrammes of silver valued at Rs 9.17 lakh was seized during the searches, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said in a statement.

The federal agency added that digital devices and copies of property documents were also seized.

The money-laundering case stems from a Lokayukta (special police establishment) FIR of the Madhya Pradesh government against Sharma in which it is alleged that he amassed "disproportionate assets worth crores of rupees in the name of his family members and associated firms and companies".

According to the Lokayukta, Sharma was appointed as a constable in the Madhya Pradesh transport department on compassionate grounds in 2015 and he took voluntary retirement from service in 2023.

His father, a government doctor, died in 2015, the Lokayukta said.

The ED conducted the first round of searches in this case last December.