Agartala, Aug 28: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has unearthed laundering of over Rs. 200 crore following raids across Tripura, Delhi, Haryana, and West Bengal. 

The operations, carried out under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), were linked to ongoing investigations against Utpal Kumar Chowdhury of Tripura, who is currently lodged in a Haryana jail.

According to the ED, searches led to the recovery of Rs. 7 lakh in cash, incriminating documents, fake identity cards, stamps of various Tripura government departments, and electronic evidence. Several bank accounts with deposits amounting to nearly Rs. 60 lakh were also frozen.

The investigators revealed that Chowdhury created a network of shell entities and fraudulent firms by adopting names resembling government departments and PSUs, such as the Directorate of Higher Education, Bridge and Roof Company, and Apparel Council of India. By doing so, he lured investors, promising lucrative government contracts.

Chowdhury allegedly impersonated as a senior officer of the Government of India to defraud individuals and institutions.

Posing as the head of the Directorate of Higher Education in Tripura, he duped educational institutes with false promises of sending students, while also misleading contractors with assurances of mid-day meal tenders.

The probe further exposed that Chowdhury fraudulently took control of an NGO — Chaltakhali Swamiji Seva Sangha — registered under the FCRA. Through its bank accounts, he routed laundered money under the guise of a fake rubber trade. Though no real transactions or transport records were found, bogus paperwork was created to show sale and purchase of rubber.

The ED noted that this elaborate scheme enabled the diversion of funds to entities in Haryana, Kolkata, and Delhi, with large cash withdrawals made after layering transactions. Preliminary findings estimate that over Rs. 200 crore was siphoned through these channels.

Shockingly, the agency has also found evidence indicating that Chowdhury maintained close ties with certain senior officer(s) of the Tripura government, who allegedly received large sums of money. Further investigation into their role and the wider network is underway.