Money laundering case: ED files chargesheet against two | Lucknow News
Lucknow: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed chargesheet in a money laundering case against Bhagwati Prasad Verma and Athar Parvez for alleged misappropriation of MGNREGA funds in seven districts of the state between 2007 and 2010.ED had initiated investigation on an FIR lodged by the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Lucknow, under various sections of Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. “The case pertains to the abuse of official position, criminal conspiracy, and misappropriation of MNREGA funds in seven districts of Uttar Pradesh (Balrampur, Gonda, Mahoba, Sonbhadra, Sant Kabir Nagar, Mirzapur, and Kushinagar) during 2007-2010,” an official said.Investigation revealed that Bhagwati Prasad Verma, then project director of District Rural Development Authority (DRDA) and additional district programme coordinator, MNREGS, along with Athar Parvez, in collusion with other govt officials and private suppliers, facilitated the procurement of job cards, complaint boxes, registers, generators, tents, first-aid kits, water tanks, signboards, and printing materials at exorbitant rates from firms in Lucknow and Gonda. This caused huge losses to the state exchequer.Investigation established generation and layering of proceeds of crime, leading to the attachment of nine immovable properties worth Rs 97.18 lakh located in Lakhimpur and Kanpur.
