New Delhi, Oct 7 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said it recently conducted searches as part of a money laundering investigation into an alleged Rs 30 crore fraud in the Marriage Assistance Scheme of the Madhya Pradesh government.

The raids were undertaken on October 3 at seven locations in Bhopal, Vidisha, Katni and Chhatarpur districts under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The probe is linked to Shobhit Tripathi, a former CEO of Sironj (Vidisha district) Janpad Panchayat and some others, the agency said in a statement.

The ED case stems from an FIR of Madhya Pradesh Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) against Tripathi which alleged that the ex-CEO of the Janpad Panchayat, in collusion with others, siphoned off Rs 30.18 crore in the name of 5,923 "suspicious marriages" conducted under the Marriage Assistance Scheme of the state government between 2019 and November 2021.

Tripathi, along with some data entry operators, "misused" his position to "divert" the funds originally allocated for benefitting construction workers' families, the ED said.

"They forged and fabricated documents and uploaded fraudulent information on the portal. By using these documents, they transferred the funds from the government treasury to the bank accounts of ineligible applicants and subsequently withdrew the funds through ATMs in multiple tranches," it alleged.

The withdrawn money was then deposited in the bank accounts of Tripathi and his family members and other related persons/entities, the agency said.

The said amount was either "utilised" for making various payments or was "invested" in the share market, mutual funds and for the acquisition of immovable properties.

The ED said it seized property papers and digital devices as it froze bank accounts and mutual funds worth Rs 21.7 lakh belonging to Tripathi and others during the searches. PTI NES DIV DIV

Money laundering investigation leads to PMLA searches, freezes and seizures after alleged diversion of public marriage assistance funds. Enforcement Directorate searches under the PMLA followed allegations that a former Janpad Panchayat CEO and others fabricated beneficiary records and uploaded false information to divert Marriage Assistance Scheme disbursements to ineligible accounts, withdrawing and rerouting proceeds into personal accounts, investments and immovable property; searches, freezes and seizures targeted bank accounts, mutual funds, property papers and digital devices to preserve evidence of proceeds of crime.