Kolkata, April 9 – The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has searched the premises of Kolkata-based realty company Merlin Group and its promoters as part of a money laundering investigation, an official of the central probe agency said.
It was learned that about seven premises linked to the group and its promoters, Sushil Mohta and Saket Mohta, were raided under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), officials noted on Wednesday.
The company, however, did not make any official comment on the development.
The promoters and the company are under the agency's scanner on charges of fabricating a false chain of title using forged documents, leading to allegations of land grabbing.
More details on the raids are awaited.
The move comes ahead of the Assembly polls in West Bengal.
According to the ED, the accused commercially exploited the purportedly grabbed land by launching large-scale real estate projects.
The accused induced the public to invest substantial sums in their real estate projects, by projecting themselves as lawful owners of the land using forged documents.
On April 1, the ED recovered more than Rs 1 crore in cash from the house of a company executive in Behala area of the city.
Weapons have also been recovered from the house of businessman Biswajit Poddar in Kasba area of Kolkata.
The ED officials have been conducting searches at several places related to the alleged mastermind for the Kankulia violence, Biswajit Poddar alias Sona Pappu since Wednesday morning.
According to ED officials, Sona Pappu controls several syndicates in different areas of Kasba and Ballygunge.
Based on that information, the officials of the central investigation agency started the operation.
The ED officials came to know through sources that Sona Pappu used to withdraw crores of rupees from various construction companies and through him, the ED also received allegations that the money would reach various influential people.
Sources claim that to investigate these allegations, the officials of the central investigation agency conducted searches at several places, including Sona Pappu's house.