ED raids TMC MP K.D. Singh's premises

Even as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the national capital, the Enforcement Directorate carried out searches at the premises of Trinamool Congress MP K.D. Singh in a money laundering probe, officials said.

A senior ED official told that the agency carried out searches at the premises of Singh, a Rajya Sabha MP, in Chandigarh and Delhi in connection with the money laundering case to the tune of Rs 1,900 crore.

The development comes hours after Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee met Shah in the national capital. On Wednesday, she also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The ED had registered a case of money laundering against Alchemist Infra Realty LLC, a firm related to Singh and others, on the basis of a prosecution complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on March 18, 2016.

In January this year, the ED attached properties to the tune of Rs 239 crore of the group.

ED investigations revealed that funds mobilized by the Alchemist Infra Realty Ltd from various investors were never utilized for the purpose for which they were collected. The funds were transferred to the bank accounts of other group companies which were mainly paper companies from where they were systematically siphoned off by the accused and used to purchase properties at various locations in the country, the ED official had said early this year.

Singh had resigned as Chairman of the Alchemist Group in 2012.

( With inputs from IANS )