CBI arrest ED officer with bribe money
Kanwar Inder singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ August 9,2024
On August 7,2024, at 11:30 PM, Sandeep Singh, Assistant Director, Directorate of Enforcement [ED] was trapped by CBI Mumbai in New Delhi along with Rs 20 Lakh cash which he had allegedly extorted from an individual under investigation by ED to give favour in an ED case.
Taking immediate cognizance of this incident and following the policy of zero tolerance towards corruption, ED has initiated criminal action against Sandeep Singh under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 [PMLA].
ECIR is registered against him and a Search operation is conducted at his residence on 08-08-2024 under the provisions of PMLA by ED so as to gather evidences of his criminal activities.
His office was jointly searched on 08-08-2024 by CBI and ED to collect evidences related to the offence. In addition to PMLA case, action has also been initiated to place him under immediate suspension and for his repatriation to his parent department from ED.
On verification of facts which led to the arrest of Sandeep Singh, it is found that ED was conducting a money laundering investigation against certain entities based on multiple FIRs of Delhi, Uttrakhand, Bangalore Police FIRs.
In this case search action was conducted and completed on 04- 08-2024. During the course of this action, Sandeep Singh, Assistant Director, ED acting as the “Search Warrant Authorized Officer” had conducted the search at the residential premises in Mumbai of an individual under investigation.
Vipul Thakkar is the owner of M/s V S Gold, an entity which was suspected to be part of money laundering. The search was uneventful and conducted as per the due procedure. Sandeep Singh is not the investigating officer of this ECIR. He was requisitioned for the limited purpose of conducting the search at the target premises.
However, Sandeep Singh represented himself as investigating officer and allegedly accepted the bribe for favouring the accused though he was no way connected with the case being investigated. Further, investigations are in progress by ED.
