LUCKNOW: The Allahabad unit of Enforcement Directorate arrested MLA Abbas Ansari, son of don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, late on Friday.
Abbas Ansari is the sitting Mau MLA from Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP). Heavy police force was deployed outside the ED unit of Allahabad to avoid any untoward situation.
The arrest came after Abbas failed to turn up before the ED despite repeated notices and summons. A look-out circular was also issued by the ED against Abbas last month. The ED, which will produce him in court on Saturday, grilled Ansari for ten hours and he remained non-cooperative throughout before arresting him.
Suspicious transactions through shell companies have come under the scanner of ED, in which Abbas’ name cropped up. The ED had registered a case against MLA Mukhtar Ansari under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for siphoning off crores of rupees received as rent from illegally occupied government land in 2020.
“During the course of the probe, names of Ansari’s wife and son also came up. However, to verify the dubious transactions, neither Aafsa, Mukhtar’s wife, nor Abbas ever turned up,” said sources.
Sources said that they have collected evidence which indicates that Mukhtar Ansari had also allegedly siphoned off Rs 25 lakh from the Local Area Development fund allocated to him when he was the Mau MLA.
The ED is also scrutinising 49 FIRs registered against Mukhtar in various police stations of the state and will also investigate chargesheets filed against him.
Abbas Ansari is the sitting Mau MLA from Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP). Heavy police force was deployed outside the ED unit of Allahabad to avoid any untoward situation.
The arrest came after Abbas failed to turn up before the ED despite repeated notices and summons. A look-out circular was also issued by the ED against Abbas last month. The ED, which will produce him in court on Saturday, grilled Ansari for ten hours and he remained non-cooperative throughout before arresting him.
Suspicious transactions through shell companies have come under the scanner of ED, in which Abbas’ name cropped up. The ED had registered a case against MLA Mukhtar Ansari under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for siphoning off crores of rupees received as rent from illegally occupied government land in 2020.
“During the course of the probe, names of Ansari’s wife and son also came up. However, to verify the dubious transactions, neither Aafsa, Mukhtar’s wife, nor Abbas ever turned up,” said sources.
Sources said that they have collected evidence which indicates that Mukhtar Ansari had also allegedly siphoned off Rs 25 lakh from the Local Area Development fund allocated to him when he was the Mau MLA.
The ED is also scrutinising 49 FIRs registered against Mukhtar in various police stations of the state and will also investigate chargesheets filed against him.
