Rajasthan ex-bureaucrat held for money laundering

New Delhi, August 14

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today arrested a former Joint Director of Rajasthan’s Department of Information Technology and Communication (DoIT&C) under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering act (PMLA) in a case linked to possession of alleged disproportionate assets.

The agency said Ved Prakash Yadav was arrested on August 9 after his premises in Jaipur (Rajasthan) and Azamgarh (Uttar Pradesh) were searched by ED officials.

The ED said the accused was produced before a special PMLA court in Jaipur that sent him to the agency’s custody till August 14.

The ED’s case against Yadav is based on an FIR of the state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) when he was posted as the Joint Director of the DoIT&C. The ACB alleged that during file scanning work at the UID branch of DoIT&C, two bags were found in a cupboard filled with Rs 2.31 crore cash in the denomination of of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 apart from a one kg gold bar valued at Rs 61.80 lakh allegedly belonging to Yadav.

The ACB later filed a chargesheet against Yadav for “acquiring disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 3.35 crore between 1994 and 2023,” the ED said. The ED said it seized sale deeds of properties, “incriminating” documents and electronic devices during the raids it carried out at the premises of Yadav.

The DOI&C, according to its website, is tasked for the computerisation and IT enablement for framing policy, planning, implementation and monitoring of information and Communication technologies and e-governance projects of Rajasthan.