Jalandhar, Dec 15: In a money laundering probe related to an environmental crime, the Enforcement Directorate attached properties, including land, building and plant and machinery, worth Rs 79.93 crore belonging to a Punjab-based company involved in water pollution, an official said on Monday.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Jalandhar Zonal Office, provisionally attached the immovable properties of Malbros International Pvt Ltd on Saturday in the money laundering investigation related to environmental crime, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

The ED initiated an investigation based on a criminal complaint filed by the Punjab Pollution Control Board against Malbros International for violating the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, by injection of untreated wastewater through reverse boring into deep aquifers.

The ED investigation revealed that the company (with its industrial unit at village Mansoorwal, Tehsil Zira, District Ferozepur) was involved in the generation and acquisition of Proceeds of Crime by deliberately causing pollution of groundwater by persistently and covertly injecting untreated effluents into deep aquifers through reverse boring.

The company was also accused of repeatedly discharging wastewater onto land, drains, and an adjacent sugar mill.

Its daily functioning involved persistent illegal discharge of untreated effluents into land and groundwater, causing large-scale irreparable ecological damage in the form of water pollution and consequent health hazards, causing crop loss, cattle deaths and serious health impacts for residents of villages around its premises, said a statement.

Earlier, searches were conducted at six locations on July 16, 2024, and an amount of Rs 78.15 lakh cash was seized from the premises of Malbros International Pvt Ltd and its Directors under the provisions of Section 17 of the PMLA, 2002.

In a separate case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Shimla, teams conducted search operations at eight premises located in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab on Saturday in connection with an ongoing investigation into a large-scale fake/fictitious cryptocurrency-based Ponzi/Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) scam.

The perpetrators of the scam allegedly duped lakhs of investors belonging to the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the tune of Rs 2,300 crore

The search operations conducted by the ED resulted in the freezing of three lockers and bank balances/fixed deposits totalling Rs 1.2 crore.

The ED also recovered incriminating documents relating to investments made in numerous immovable properties, including benami properties, which were acquired by the accused individuals by utilising proceeds of crime (PoC) generated through the Ponzi scheme.

Kolkata, Dec 15: Another person has died by suicide due to alleged fear of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise of the voter list being carried out by the Election Commission, in West Bengal’s Nadia district, said the police on Monday.

An elderly man in the Ranaghat area of the district has taken his own life. The deceased has been identified as Sushanta Biswas (60). His family claimed that he committed suicide by hanging himself at his home due to this fear on Monday morning.

According to the police, Sushanta Biswas lived in Matikumra Madhyapara under the Dhantala police station in Ranaghat. He worked in Kolkata.

According to his family, Sushanta Biswas had been living in fear since the SIR process began in the state. He was worried because his name was not on the 2002 voter list. He even stopped going outside. Neighbours tried to reassure him, but his fear persisted. He became increasingly depressed, fearing that his name might be removed from the voter list and that he might have to leave his home and move elsewhere.

A family member said Sushanta Biswas had filled out the enumeration form.

His wife, Namita Biswas, said, “He was always afraid. He had almost stopped talking. We tried to explain things to him, but he would only talk about the SIR. He would say, ‘If they take me to jail, I will get a six-year sentence’. My mother-in-law’s name is on the 2002 list. Our names were removed because we were living away. This morning, I woke up to find him hanging with a towel around his neck.”

A senior officer of Ranaghat Police District said, “The body has been recovered and sent for autopsy. It has been learnt that he died by suicide after living in fear for some days over his name not being on the 2002 voter list. A case has started. Investigation is underway.”

A few days ago, another person had similarly died by suicide in the same district over alleged fear of the Election Commission’s SIR process.

Mumbai: Malad police have arrested an interstate gang of five for cheating shop owner Dinesh Mehta of Rs 25 lakh by selling him fake gold. The accused, primarily from Rajasthan, were arrested in Gujarat and Virar.

The main accused, Babulal Waghela, who is wanted in multiple cases, falsely claimed to have discovered gold while digging near a Nashik temple. The gang gained Mehta’s trust by first showing him a silver coin, then giving him genuine gold beads to test. After Mehta handed over Rs25 lakh, they gave him a necklace made of copper and nickel.

Police traced and arrested Waghela, his wife, and three others, successfully recovering Rs15.45 lakh in cash. A fifth accused, Govind, remains wanted.