New Delhi [India], April 8 (ANI): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Samajwadi Party leader and former MLA Vinay Shankar Tiwari and one more person in connection with a bank fraud case exceeding Rs 700 crore, the agency said on Tuesday.
Alongside Tiwari, Ajeet Pandey, a key managerial figure at Gangotri Enterprises, was also taken into custody.
Both Tiwari and Pandey were arrested on April 7 during searches conducted at 10 locations in Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, and Noida in Uttar Pradesh, as well as Mumbai. The arrests are linked to a bank fraud case involving Gangotri Enterprises Limited and others, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The searches were carried out at the residences and office premises of Tiwari, along with other directors and contractors of Gangotri Enterprises Limited, to trace and uncover the proceeds of crime.
Both individuals were subsequently produced before the Special Court under the PMLA in Lucknow. The court granted 14 days of judicial custody, following which Tiwari and Pandey were sent to Lucknow Jail. They were later remanded to ED custody until April 11 by a special court.
Tiwari is a promoter of Gangotri Enterprises, a company that has been actively involved in executing government contracts. The firm is now at the center of a major investigation into large-scale financial irregularities.
The ED initiated an investigation based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation after the company, GEL, committed a bank fraud of Rs 754 crore in collusion with its directors, promoters, and guarantors.
The ED’s investigation revealed that funds were diverted and misappropriated through siphoning off to various related paper concerns operated and controlled by the company’s main promoter, Tiwari, and his family members and relatives, causing a wrongful loss to a consortium of banks to the tune of Rs 754 crore. “Many of his relatives are either directors, shareholders, or guarantors in the company GEL,” the ED said in a statement.
In this case, two Provisional Attachment Orders (PAO) were issued. The first PAO, dated November 17, 2023, valued at Rs 72.08 crore, and the second PAO, dated March 18, 2024, valued at Rs 30.86 crore, were issued and confirmed by the Adjudicating Authority.
“It has been found during the search that funds were diverted under the garb of investment, and interest-free loans and advances were given to its group companies. Some high-value properties were also transferred to benami/paper entities without any consideration when the loan account turned NPA,” said the ED.
Search operations resulted in the recovery of several incriminating documents, it added. (ANI)
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