ED attaches Rs5-cr assets of UP ex-minister in DA case

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 18

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued a provisional attachment order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 to seize assets worth Rs 5 crore belonging to former Uttar Pradesh Cabinet minister Rangnath Mishra in connection with a Disproportionate Assets (DA) case.

The agency in a statement said it had issued an order to provisionally attach a residential plot at George Town Extension, Tagore Town in Allahabad.

Mishra was the minister for secondary education and home in the 2007-11 Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government, headed by the then UP CM Mayawati. The market value of the asset is Rs 5 crore. The agency’s probe is related to money laundering arising out of an alleged DA case against the former minister, the ED stated.

“These properties were acquired by Rangnath Mishra in his name and in the name of his family during 2010,” the statement read, while adding that the probe against Mishra was initiated after studying an FIR filed against him by the UP Vigilance Department.

“The probe revealed acquisition of disproportionate assets by the ex-minister during his tenure as the secondary education and home (minister) during 2007-2011,” the ED said.

“Further investigation into sources of the properties acquired and purchased by Mishra and his family members in the name of trust, ‘samiti’ and institutes is under progress,” it added.