ED seizes Rs 2.19 crore cash in Chandigarh

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday late night seized total of Rs 2,19,35,500 from house of a local cloth merchant in Sector 22.He has been arrested by the Sector 17 Police following the complaint of ED officials.

Acting on a tip-off, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized Rs 2.19 crore from the house of a cloth merchant, Inderpal Mahajan, in Sector 22, Chandigarh, on Tuesday night. Mahajan, 45, was taken into police custody following the complaint of ED officials.

Inderpal Mahajan was arrested by police following a raid in his house. (HT Photo)

A team led by Gurnam Singh, deputy director, ED, Chandigarh, raided the house. New notes amounting to Rs 69.3 lakh and old notes totalling Rs 1.5 crore were recovered.

Inderpal Mahajan owns Mahajan Cloth House in Sector 30.

“We received a complaint from the ED and arrested Inderpal. We are investigating the role of bank officials in providing them new notes. There is a possibility of the involvement of senior bank officials,” Ram Gopal, deputy superintendent of police (DSP), central, said.

Asked about involvement of accused in hawala trade, the DSP said though the possibility could not be ruled out, things would be clear after investigation. “The ED is going to investigate all angles, including money laundering”, the DSP said.

ED officials said that raid was conducted following a tip-off that cloth merchant possessed black money.

A case was registered under sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent), 420 (cheating), 120 (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and under sections of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.