ED attaches land worth Rs 193.46 cr in JKSTCB fraud case

New Delhi: Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said that it has attached immovable properties in the form of land measuring 257 kanal and 19 Marlas in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar worth Rs 193.46 crore in connection with its money laundering probe into the J&K State Co-operative Bank (JKSTCB) involving a fake cooperative society named River Jhelum Co-operative House Building Society.

The ED in a statement said that it attached immovable property at Shivpora in Srinagar in a PMLA case related to the financial fraud committed with J&K State Co-operative Bank (JKSTCB).

The ED said that the fraud involved sanctioning of loan to the tune of Rs 250 crore (disbursement amount Rs 223 crore), in 2019, to a fake cooperative society named River Jehlum Co-operative House Building Society, Shivpora, Srinagar, (J&K) by the then Chairman of JKSTCB & Others.

The ED had registered a case on the basis of FIR and consequent chargesheets filed by LEA, Srinagar invoking various sections of Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) and Jammu & Kashmir Prevention of Corruption Act (JK PC Act) Samvat 2006 (Corresponding to IPC and PCA) against five accused persons -- Hilal Ahmad Mir (Chairman of River Jehlum Co-operative House Building Society), Abdul Hamid Hajam (Secretary of River Jehlum Co-operative House Building Society), Mohammad Mujeeb Ur Rehman Ghassi (the then Registrar of Cooperative Societies, J&K), Syed Ashiq Hussain (the then Dy. Registrar of Co-operative Societies, J&K) and Mohammad Shafi Dar (the then Chairman of JKSTCB).

The agency said that its probe revealed that the money derived out of the said fraud was utilised for acquiring the above mentioned immovable property.

Earlier search and surveys were also conducted at different locations and evidences in the form of incriminating documents and digital devices were seized.

The ED had arrested Mohammad Shafi Dar and Hilal Ahmad Mir and were sent to judicial custody December 20.