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According to an official, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted simultaneous multi-city searches on Monday, searching the houses of former BSP lawmaker Vinay Shankar Tiwari in Mumbai, Delhi, and at least nine other sites in Uttar Pradesh in connection with a bank loan scam of Rs 1,500 crore.

In addition to Delhi and Mumbai, a coordinated search was conducted at five sites in Lucknow and one each in Gorakhpur, Noida, Sitapur, and Maharajganj for the offices of Gangotri Enterprises Limited, a company that Tiwari had pushed.

According to an official, a number of digital devices, incriminating papers, and information on different movable and immovable assets were recovered and seized as a result of the search operations.

The CBI has previously charged Tiwari’s business in a corruption case, and it is alleged that it laundered and transferred Rs 1,500 crore in loans from a group of banks.

According to an official, Gangotri Enterprises Limited is also suspected of providing falsified documentation in order to get loans.

Tiwari joined the Samajwadi Party after having been a member of the BSP. He is the son of Hari Shankar Tiwari, a former UP minister and a late strongman.

According to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the ED searched ten sites in Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Noida, Ahmedabad, and Gurgaon in February 2024 in relation to the suspected bank fraud by Gangotri Enterprises Limited and others.

In order to track down and uncover the profits of crime, the ED detectives had already examined Tiwari’s home and business, as well as that of other GEL directors and contractors.

Following the CBI’s filing of a formal complaint on the GEL’s alleged Rs 754 crore bank fraud committed in collusion with its directors, promoters, and guarantors, the ED opened an inquiry.

According to the ED’s investigation, the loan funds were stolen and misdirected by being siphoned off to a number of linked businesses run and managed by Tiwari, the company’s principal promoter, and his family members, resulting in unjust losses for the bank consortium.

A large number of his family members are directors, shareholders, or guarantors of M/s GEL. In this instance, many assets valued at Rs 72.08 crore were attached by a Provisional Attachment order that was issued in November 2023.

The ED discovered during last year’s investigations that GEL had provided advances to its group firms and that money had been siphoned off under the guise of interest-free loans and investments.

When the loan account became a non-performing asset (NPA), several valuable properties were also transferred to Benami/paper companies without any compensation.