ED raids Dharamsala Assistant Drug Controller, his in-laws houses

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday carried out raids at multiple locations linked to Dharamsala-based Assistant Drug Controller Nishant Sareen, his family members, in-laws and some of his associates in the ongoing investigation of a money laundering case stemming from alleged bribery and political patronage.

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Sareen, presently posted at Dharamsala, his father-in-law Ramesh Kumar Gupta, and an alleged associate Komal Khanna were among those under the scanner. The ED teams searched five residential and commercial premises at Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, and Punjab during the day-long operation.

The search operation was related to the alleged “misuse” of Sareen’s official position during his previous posting at Baddi in Solan district, which is the pharmaceutical hub of North India and his current tenure in Dharamsala.

The central agency was probing alleged charges of extortion, bribe-taking from pharmaceutical companies and generation of “proceeds of crime”.

The ED is also examining allegations of political protection extended to Sareen during his tenure, which reportedly enabled his alleged misconduct to go unchecked for years.

The money laundering case was registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), and also based on an FIR filed by the Himachal Pradesh State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SV&ACB) in August 2019.

Sareen was arrested by the Vigilance Bureau in September 2019 and charge-sheeted along with Komal Khanna in the bribery case. He was granted bail a month later.

Despite earlier allegations, Sareen was reinstated and appointed as Assistant Drug Controller at Dharamsala in 2024, raising questions over due diligence process in government postings. During the Himachal Police investigation, Sareen faced serious accusations of accepting bribes from pharma companies in Baddi in exchange for regulatory favours.

Efforts were made to contact Sareen for his version, but he did not answer phone calls.