UP: ED attaches 7 properties of jailed don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari

LUCKNOW: A unit of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and local government in Uttar Pradesh's Jalaun attached seven properties of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari on Friday.
The seven properties, including plots worth Rs 3.42 crore, are in the city area of Orai.
The ED provisionally attached seven immovable properties worth Rs 1.48 crore (registry value) in the case against then Mukhtar Ansari (Ex-MLA).The value of the attached properties at the time of registration, as per the circle rate was Rs 3.42 crore.
The ED had registered a case against MLA Mukhtar Ansari under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for siphoning off crores of rupees received as rent from illegally occupied government land in 2020.
The ED has also found that Mukhtar has also siphoned off Rs 25 lakh issued for MLA local area development (LAD) funds.
ED officials said that money was meant for the construction of a school in Mau under Sarai Lakhansi police station area and was asked why despite the release of Rs 25 lakh from MLALAD funds, not a single brick was found on the site.
ED also said that a probe against other members of Ansari was still under way.
The ED sources said that they are also scrutinizing 49 FIRs registered against Mukhtar in different police stations of the state and will also investigate those where chargesheets have been filed and also those in which an investigation is pending.