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Industrial effluent, sewage used to brew illicit liquor in Punjab

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Industrial effluent and sewage are used to brew illicit liquor in Punjab.

This fact came to light in a search operation by the Excise and Taxation Department in the Bet area of Ludhiana district that falls along the Satluj river where about 2.80 lakh kg of unclaimed ‘lahan’ (raw material used for producing illicit liquor) and 100 litre of illicit liquor was destroyed on the spot, officials said on Wednesday.

As many as 60 members of search teams carried out the extensive search on Tuesday in some 40 km in which a shocking fact came to the fore that in order to distill the illicit liquor from ‘lahan’, the water used was the one which came from the sewage of industrial units of Ludhiana city.

On seeing the Excise teams, the people involved in the distillation ran away, leaving behind 30 working stills, six quintals of wood, 15 iron drums, two aluminium vessels, plastic pipes and 12 bags of jaggery, an official statement said.

During the operation, excise staff from Jalandhar was also called at other end of the river for combing operations. The operation was aimed to deter the people involved in the illicit distillation of liquor from ‘lahan’ in the Mand areas and areas along the banks of the rivers of the state.

The teams observed the water being used for the liquor distillation was full of the chemical waste and toxins releases from the industrial units.

The illicit brewing of liquor has become a big challenge in areas along the river beds and border areas that are not only having adverse impact on the sale of country-made liquor but also impending threat of hooch tragedies, said the statement.

To end illegal and illicit activities, the department has launched an extensive statewide drive.

On the directive of Excise and Taxation Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, Excise Commissioner Varun Roojam constituted four teams to launch the search operation. The teams were constituted under Deputy Commissioner (Excise) Shalin Walia by Shivani Gupta, Assistant Commissioner (Excise), Ludhiana Range.

Crime

ED conducts raids in Delhi, Raj, Gujarat in ₹2,700 cr money laundering case involving real estate scheme

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Jaipur, June 12: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) launched a massive crackdown on Thursday in connection with a Rs 2,700 crore money laundering case involving a real estate scheme. The ED conducted raids at approximately 24 locations across Delhi, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

According to agency sources, the ongoing investigation is linked to a large-scale financial fraud related to a real estate scheme named Red Nexa Evergreen.

In Rajasthan, ED teams carried out operations in cities including Jaipur, Jodhpur, Sikar, and Jhunjhunu.

Simultaneous raids were also conducted in Ahmedabad (Gujarat) and parts of Delhi. The crackdown is being executed under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The Red Nexa Evergreen project reportedly lured investors with promises of high returns or property allocations — either flats, land, or premium rates after a fixed tenure.

Allegations suggest that a significant number of investors were duped in the process.

Rajasthan Police had earlier registered an FIR against multiple individuals involved in the fraudulent scheme.

The ED’s investigation aims to uncover the financial trail and identify key beneficiaries of the scam. More details are expected to emerge as the search operations continue. Around 24 places are being raided in Rajasthan and Gujarat and Delhi.

The investors in this project were lured to invest their money till a particular time and told that they can get plots and flats in return for their investments.

However investors were duped as none of the promises were allegedly fulfilled.

In the end the frustrated investors filed many FIRs in this regard.

The raids have been conducted keeping money laundering in mind, said officials.

Once the search operation is done, action will be taken against those involved in the fraud.

Rajasthan police were acting in the matter till now, however now that the ED has come into the picture, fresh facts are expected to come out soon in the case, said sources.

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Crime

Sonam confesses to role in husband Raja Raghuvanshi’s murder

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Shillong, June 11: Sonam Raghuvanshi, the prime accused in the sensational murder of her husband Raja Raghuvanshi during their honeymoon in Meghalaya, has confessed to her role in the crime during interrogation, sources told media on Wednesday.

According to the sources, Sonam admitted to orchestrating the murder when she was questioned by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) earlier in the day.

Her confession was also formally recorded in front of officials from the Meghalaya Police, confirming her direct involvement in the crime, the sources said.

Earlier in the day, five accused — Sonam Raghuvanshi, her alleged boyfriend Raj Kushwaha, Anand Kurmi, Akash Rajput, and Vishal Singh Chauhan — were produced in a Shillong court following detailed interrogation by the SIT.

Police officials revealed that the three alleged contract killers — Akash, Anand, and Vikash — travelled from Indore to Shillong in separate phases to avoid drawing attention.

Their movement was traced through CCTV footage, train ticket bookings, and Aadhaar card photocopies, which helped authorities confirm their identities and track their route to Meghalaya.

According to investigators, the killers joined the couple on a trek on May 23, disguising themselves as fellow tourists.

Albert Pde, a local guide, informed the police that he had offered assistance to the group but was turned down.

He also noted that the group was conversing in Hindi and deliberately opted for a remote and rugged trekking trail, away from the popular tourist area of the Double Decker Living Root Bridge.

Sonam Raghuvanshi was arrested after she surrendered at the Nandganj police station in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur district in the early hours of Monday.

Her surrender followed days of intense pressure mounted by a coordinated, multi-state police operation involving law enforcement agencies from Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh.

According to the police, Sonam plotted her husband’s murder and hired contract killers to execute the plan while on their honeymoon.

The other accused were nabbed during a series of raids conducted by police teams across Madhya Pradesh.

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Crime

How arrested Pakistani national in Kolkata secured EPIC card, voted twice; ED probes

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Kolkata, June 11: The Enforcement Directorate have started tracking the sources of the documents based on which Azad Mullick, the Pakistani citizen whom ED arrested in Kolkata in April, secured an EPIC card, with which he voted twice, first in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly election and then in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Sources aware of the development said that what has kept the ED investigating officials even more intrigued is how the EPIC card held by Azad did not create doubts in the minds of the review officials during the interim revision of the voters’ list between 2021 and 2024.

The officials are in touch with the offices of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, to get details of the documents furnished by Azad for getting the EPIC card.

According to information available with ED, Azad was enrolled as a voter of Dum Dum-Uttar Assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas district, which is again one of the seven Assembly constituencies under Dum Dum Lok Sabha constituency. He admitted this in the face of interrogation about his voting in 2021 and 2024.

The issue of foreign nationals becoming voters in West Bengal has become a politically sensitive issue in the state ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled next year.

On Tuesday, ECI ordered the office of the CEO, West Bengal, to probe the case of a man, who was active in the student ‘movement’ in Bangladesh last year, and features as a registered voter in the Kakdwip Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district.

The controversy surfaced after some whistleblowers highlighted the picture of Newton Das, a registered voter with Kakdwip Assembly constituency, featuring in the students’ movement in Bangladesh last year on social media. The whistleblowers and a cousin of Das also claimed that Das had dual citizenship in India and Bangladesh.

According to the Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, the new addition to the endless list of corruption under the Trinamool Congress regime is ensuring the enlistment of Bangladeshis in the state’s voters list

The case of Azad, originally a Pakistani citizen, was even more complicated. When he was arrested at the beginning of April, documents seized by the ED official then showed that he was a Bangladeshi citizen, who was residing in India after arranging Indian identity documents, including an Indian passport, by furnishing fake documents.

However, on April 29, the ED counsel informed a special court in Kolkata that in the face of interrogation, Mullick admitted that he was an original resident of Pakistan. He said he first managed to arrange a Bangladeshi citizenship for himself through the use of forged documents and subsequently, in the same manner,r arranged Indian identity documents.

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