CA, brother assault ED officer during raid in Delhi farmhouse, flee

An officer of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was assaulted by a chartered accountant (CA) and his brother during a raid of their farmhouse in Bijwasan, near Kapashera, on Thursday morning in connection with an investigation into money laundering pertaining to organised cybercrime, officials said

An officer of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was assaulted by a chartered accountant (CA) and his brother during a raid of their farmhouse in Bijwasan, near Kapashera, on Thursday morning in connection with an investigation into money laundering pertaining to organised cybercrime, officials said.

CA, brother assault ED officer during raid in Delhi farmhouse, flee

The officer suffered minor injuries but the attackers, CA Ashok Sharma and Radhe Shyam, fled the farmhouse.

“ED HIU (high-intensity unit) today (Thursday) conducted simultaneous searches on multiple locations. Searches are on. Incriminating material has been seized. At one premises at Bijwasan in Delhi, suspect CA Ashok Sharma and his brother badly assaulted an ED officer and managed to escape after causing hurt. FIR is being done. Searches are on,” ED said in a statement.

Police said a case under sections 221, 132, 121(1), 351(3) and 3(5) of the BNS was registered at the Kapashera police station.

“Our police staff learnt that one CA named Ashok Kumar owned the farmhouse. The raiding team was accompanied by two women central reserve police force (CRPF) officials. One male CRPF official was also called to the spot. One person named Yash, who is a relative of the CA, was apprehended from the farmhouse. The CA and his brother fled after the manhandling,” deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Surendra Choudhary said.

In its statement, the ED said it was probing “thousands of cybercrimes”, such as phishing, QR code, part-time job scams and call centres being run for fraud. Analysis of the crimes, with the help of Financial Intelligence Unit, revealed an organised network of CAs and crypto traders at work. Around 15,000 mule accounts were used to layer proceeds of crimes, with debit/credit cards, victual accounts and cryptocurrency further layering the proceeds.

A police officer, asking not to be named, said at least four officers of ED and three CRPF personnel reached the farmhouse around 7.30am to conduct searches. The CA was present there along with his wife, brother, a relative, and a domestic help. “Seeing the raiding team, the CA and his brother, who is employed in a bank, attempted to flee the farmhouse and in the process, assaulted the ED officer, causing minor injuries to him,” the officer said.