Lucknow, Aug 7 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday conducted searches in the city as part of a money laundering probe against suspended IAS officer and former Invest Uttar Pradesh CEO Abhishek Prakash, an alleged middleman Nikant Jain and some others, official sources said.

Four premises linked to Jain, who allegedly asked for a bribe on behalf of Prakash, are being searched in the city under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.

Apart from Jain's home in Viram Khand, Gomti Nagar, two premises registered as offices of companies related to him and his family members are being searched.

The fourth is a hotel where his family members are common directors, they said. Jain was arrested earlier by the Uttar Pradesh Police as part of this case investigation.

Prakash, a 2006-batch IAS officer, was suspended in March this year by the Uttar Pradesh government after an investor in the solar industry lodged a complaint alleging that Jain demanded a commission to facilitate approvals for projects.

Invest UP is the state's investment promotion agency, aiming to attract and facilitate investments. Prakash was serving as its CEO.

Jain was arrested for allegedly demanding money from an entrepreneur for clearing his proposal with the help of Invest UP functionaries, officials said earlier.

According to the police FIR, an industrial group had applied for setting up a solar manufacturing units in the state through Invest UP.

The case was reviewed by an evaluation committee after which a senior Invest UP official directed the applicant to contact Jain.

Jain allegedly demanded a 5 per cent commission (bribe) to facilitate approvals from the Empowered Committee and the state cabinet pressuring the applicant to pay an advance, as per the police.

When the applicant refused to comply, Jain allegedly told him the project would not move forward without his involvement, suggesting bureaucratic hurdles were deliberately created to extract bribes, the FIR stated. PTI NES DV DV

Money laundering probe uncovers alleged bribe-for-approval scheme involving former Invest UP CEO and intermediary. Enforcement action under the PMLA arises from allegations that a suspended Invest UP CEO and an alleged middleman solicited commissions to secure approvals for a solar project; the ED conducted searches of multiple premises linked to the middleman, who had been arrested by police, based on an FIR alleging the applicant was directed to the middleman after an evaluation committee review and that approvals would be blocked without payment.