Hyderabad: ED attaches properties worth Rs 4.80 crore in money laundering case

Hyderabad, Sep 1 (IANS) The Directorate of Enforcement has provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs. 4.80 crore belonging to Mohd. Munawar Khan and his wife, Faiqa Taha Khan, are in connection with a money laundering case against Khader Unissa and others.

The properties attached by ED Hyderabad Zonal Office under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 are situated at Banjara Hills, Tolichowki and Shamshababad.

The ED had initiated an investigation based on an FIR registered by the Maheshwaram Police Station, against private persons and government officials regarding the illegal sale of government land involving forgery of documents and manipulation of government revenue records.

The ED investigation revealed that Government land/Bhoodan land situated in Nagaram Village, Maheshwaram Mandal, was falsely claimed by Khader Unissa and her son Mohd. Munawar Khan as ancestral property; that the revenue records were fraudulently mutated, and the land parcels were further sold to several parties in association with several middlemen.

These middlemen, in connivance with some government officials, forged the documents and changed the land revenue records fraudulently, resulting in de-notifying the said land from the prohibited list and its subsequent sale to some private parties, the Central agency said in a statement.

By selling Government land/Bhoodan Land illegally, Khader Unissa and her son Mohd. Munawar Khan illegally gained Proceeds of Crime (POC) to the tune of Rs. 6.45 crore. The POC were further utilised by Mohd. Munawar Khan, inter alia, to acquire immovable properties in the name of his wife, Faiqa Taha Khan. Further investigation is in progress, the ED added.

In April, the ED had conducted searches at the residences and farmhouses of Khaderunissa, Mohd. Munawar Khan, Mohd. Lateef Sharfan, Mohd. Akhtar Sharan and Mohd. Shukoor.

The agency had stated that it seized 45 cars, including several vintage cars.

The agency seized incrimination documents related to the fraudulent sale and purchase of government land, Indian currency of Rs 23 lakh and 12,000 UAE Dirhams.

In March 2023, Dastagir Shareef filed a private complaint in a court that some individuals, with the alleged collusion of revenue officials, fraudulently obtained succession rights, mutated revenue records and issued illegal pass books for 42.33 acres of land in Nagaram village in Maheshwaram mandal of Rangareddy district.

--IANS

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