New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday conducted raids at over 9 residential & commercial premises in Daman (UT) and Valsad (Gujrat) for alleged money laundering and seized Rs 1.62 crore in cash. Out of this, Rs 1 crore was found to be in Rs 2,000 denomination, the agency said.
The seizures were done after ED raids on criminal Suresh Jagubhai Patel & his associates in Gujarat’s Valsad & Daman UT on June 19 for alleged money laundering. Suresh Patel is a wanted criminal in multiple cases of extortion, murder & also said to be involved in liquor smuggling in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Daman.
The agency sleuths also confiscated documents related to more than 100 properties which included sale deeds in their name as well as in the name of relatives name, agreements, power of attorneys etc., incriminating documents relating to firms/companies/ establishments and cash transactions, digital evidences and three bank lockers keys.
ED seized cash worth Rs 1.62 Crore including more than Rs 1 Crore in 2000 rupees currency notes, documents related to more than 100 properties, power of attorneys, various incriminating documents relating to firms/companies/ establishments and cash transactions, digital evidence… pic.twitter.com/jKyoaKONp9
— ANI (@ANI) June 21, 2023
Suresh Jagubhai Patel and his accomplices namely Ketan Patel, Vipul Patel and Miten Patel are in judicial custody in connection with a 2018 double murder in Daman.
According to agency inputs, there are more than 35 cases registered against Suresh Patel and his accomplices at various police stations in Gujarat and Daman related to cases like murder, extortion, attempt to murder, possession of illegal firearms, robbery, attacking government servants, passport forgery etc.
The ED in its investigation found that the Suresh Patel & his accomplices created a web of fake/shell companies to hide their illicit income from illegal sources. These firms/companies were created with an aim to launder ill-gotten money or proceeds from criminal activities like extortion, bootlegging & more.
The ED said that the bank accounts of Suresh Patel, his family members and the companies/firms controlled by him received cash more than Rs. 100 Crores. Suresh Patel is accused in more than 10 cases of liquor smuggling into Gujarat, 7 cases of forgery & fraud, 8 cases of murder or attempt to murder, 5 cases of possession of illegal weapon, 1 case of corruption among various other crimes.
