The Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a prosecution complaint (PC) in the case of Atiq Ahmed and others before the Special Court (PMLA) in Lucknow against Shaista Parveen, the wife of the late Atiq Ahmed, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, related to a case involving a multi-crore extortion racket.
The Special Court has taken cognizance of the PC on May 14, as per ED’s press release.
ED Investigation against Atiq Ahmed
The federal probe agency commenced an investigation based on an FIR filed by the CBI under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, against Atiq Ahmed and others for criminal offenses pertaining to extortion, cheating, forgery, and illegal asset acquisition. Subsequently, the money laundering investigation’s scope expanded to encompass several FIRs lodged at various police stations for criminal offenses such as murder, extortion, cheating, forgery, land grabbing, and similar crimes.
During the investigation, it was observed that Atiq Ahmed and his associates were investing their unlawfully obtained money from illegal activities in purchasing immovable properties. Moreover, these properties were registered under the names of various other individuals/benami holders to evade detection by government agencies and tax authorities.
Previously, ED had provisionally attached movable and immovable properties worth Rs. 8.14 crore belonging to the late Atiq Ahmed and Shaista Parveen through a Provisional Attachment Order (PAO) dated December 13, 2021. These properties included land located at Tehsil Phulpur, Allahabad, registered under Shaista Parveen’s name, as well as a total balance of Rs. 1.28 crore across 10 bank accounts belonging to Atiq Ahmed and one bank account of Shaista Parveen.
Probe Agency Raids
Furthermore, in April and June 2023, ED conducted searches at a total of 27 premises associated with Atiq Ahmed’s associates. These operations resulted in the seizure of cash amounting to Rs. 1.15 crore, gold, jewelry valued at Rs. 6 crore, and numerous other incriminating records.
