Itanagar: The Enforcement Directorate on Friday conducted searches at eight locations in Arunachal Pradesh and seized about Rs 2.2 crore in cash as part of a money laundering probe linked to an alleged Trans-Arunachal Highway compensation scam.
According to ED officialS, as many as six premises in Itanagar and one each at Likabali (Lower Siang district) and Aalo (West Siang district ) were raided under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). These include the locations of Deputy Commissioner, DLRSO (District Land Revenue and Settlement), assessment officials apart from private beneficiaries and conduits, the officials said.
The Trans-Arunachal highway compensation scam case pertains to “large-scale” irregularities in assessment, certification and disbursement of land acquisition compensation involving public servants and private beneficiaries.
Probe revealed that the Deputy Commissioner, Ziro initially prepared a compensation estimate amounting to Rs 289.40 crore for the Potin-Bopi stretch.
However, at a state-level meeting the compensation package was frozen and restricted to ₹198.56 crore, the officials said.
During the disbursement of the compensation amount, funds were “diverted” to saving accounts and many cheques were issued to “fake” beneficiaries which resulted in loss of Rs 44 crore to the exchequer, the officials said.
This was done by preparing and certifying inflated and fictitious assessments of structures in the Yazali sector of the Trans-Arunachal Highway (Potin-Bopi) project. Non-existent structures and ineligible beneficiaries were included, ED officials said.
An amount of Rs 2.2 crore in cash has been found at one of the premises belonging to a “fake” beneficiary, the officials said.
