ED finds Rs 104 cr in BSP a/c

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday detected cash deposits totalling over Rs 104 crore in an account belonging to the BSP and Rs 1.43 crore in an account belonging to party supremo Mayawati’s brother Anand in a branch of the United Bank of India here, sources in the ED said.

Officials said the ED, as part of its routine survey and enquiry operations to check suspicious and huge cash deposits in banks, on Monday visited the UBI’s Karol Bagh branch and found huge deposits made in these two accounts post-demonetisation. Attempts to elicit a response from the BSP on the issue failed.

They said that the sleuths called for the records of the deposits made in the BSP account and found that while  Rs 102 crore was deposited in Rs 1,000 notes, the rest Rs 2 crore was deposited in old Rs 500 notes.

Officials said they were were astonished to find huge cash of about Rs 15-17 crore being desposited every other day.

The agency also detected another account in the same branch belonging to Anand, brother of BSP chief Mayawati, where Rs 1.43 crore was found.  A sum of 1898 lakh came into account using the old notes after the ban.

The ED has sought full details about the two accounts from the bank even as it is understood that the agency will write to the Income Tax Department which has the powers to go into the legality of donations and contributions made to political parties.

The ED has also asked the bank to provide CCTV footage and KYC documents used to open the accounts. With regard to Anands’ accounts, the agency will issue notices to him and also intimate I-T sleuths for investigation under anti-tax evasion laws.

The agency has been carrying out enquiry operations at over 50 bank branches to check possible instances of hawala dealings and money laundering after the government scrapped old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes.