Guwahati: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a prosecution complaint before the Special Court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Guwahati against several individuals and entities in connection with an alleged bribery and money laundering case linked to construction contracts along the Indo-Bangladesh border.
According to officials, the complaint was submitted by the Guwahati Zonal Office of the ED before the Special (PMLA) Judge, Assam, against Rakesh Mohan Kotwal, a retired zonal manager of the North East Region Works of National Projects Construction Corporation Limited (NPCC) in Silchar; Lathal Pasha, officer-in-charge of the Jalpaiguri project office of NPCC; Arish Baid and Binod Singhi, directors of Shree Gautam Construction Company Limited; along with Jachand Lal Singhi, Sunil Kumar and the construction company itself.
The case relates to alleged offences under Section 3 of the PMLA, punishable under Section 4 of the Act.
The case pertains to alleged bribery linked to contracts awarded by NPCC on behalf of the Border Security Force for the construction of nine Border Out Posts (Groups C and D) along the Indo-Bangladesh border.
The total value of the contracts is estimated to be around Rs 60.30 crore.
The ED initiated its probe based on a First Information Report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Anti-Corruption Branch-I in New Delhi, under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The CBI later filed a chargesheet on November 29, 2021, against nine accused persons.
Investigations revealed that Kotwal, who was then zonal manager of NPCC, along with project manager Lathal Pasha, allegedly demanded illegal gratification of around Rs 33 lakh-later settled at Rs 30 lakh-from Arish Baid for clearing pending running bills amounting to approximately Rs 2.24 crore.
To arrange the bribe, Arish Baid and Binod Singhi allegedly transferred Rs 25 lakh through hawala channels routed from Silchar to Guwahati and then to Delhi.
On July 4, 2019, about Rs 20.70 lakh was transferred from the account of Shree Gautam Construction Company Limited and Rs 5.17 lakh from the account of Jachand Lal Singhi to a firm named Vinit Distributors through banking channels.
The money was later converted into cash and handed over to Sunil Kumar at a hotel in Delhi on July 14, 2019. Officials of the CBI intercepted the transaction at the hotel and recovered Rs 25 lakh.
In a related development, another Rs 15 lakh, suspected to be proceeds of illegal gratification received by Kotwal from contractors, was recovered on July 20, 2019, from the premises of Singhi Hyundai showroom in Silchar.
The money had allegedly been kept with Swapan Das, an employee of Shree Gautam Construction Company Limited, on the instructions of Binod Singhi.
The ED investigation further found that Kotwal and Pasha had allegedly sought illegal gratification from several other contractors associated with NPCC projects.
Officials said that further investigation into the case is underway.