ED attaches Rs 2.58-crore assets in asst drug controller graft case

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Shimla Sub-Zonal Office, has provisionally attached two immovable properties worth Rs 2.58 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in connection with an ongoing probe into bribery, corruption, forgery and disproportionate assets involving Nishant Sareen, Assistant Drug Controller, and his associate Komal Khanna.

The attached assets include a residential flat in Sector 20, Panchkula, and a residential building in Shimla. The probe began after the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SV&ACB) registered an FIR under Section 11 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, against Sareen, then posted in Baddi. He was subsequently arrested, and a chargesheet was filed in 2021 against him and Khanna.

In 2022, Haryana Police registered another FIR against Sareen, Khanna and others over alleged extortion, intimidation and forgery of a partnership deed of Zhenia Pharmaceuticals, Panchkula. The FIR alleged that Khanna’s stake in the firm was illegally increased from 50% to 95%, indicating misuse of Sareen’s official position. Another SV&ACB FIR later accused Sareen of possessing disproportionate assets worth Rs 1.66 crore.