IPL betting scam: ED searches against its 2 officers, bookies

The ED conducted searches against its former joint director, another officer and a few bookies today in connection with its money laundering probe for allegedly receiving bribe for favouring an accused in the IPL cricket betting scam.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials said the raids were conducted at nine locations in Delhi, Mumbai, Gujarat and Lucknow.

The searches, they said, are being conducted at the premises of former joint director JP Singh, former enforcement officer (EO) Sanjay Kumar and two bookies.

About Rs 1.63 lakh in cash has been seized, they said.

The ED has registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on a CBI FIR.

Singh and Kumar were posted at the ED zonal office in Ahmedabad.

The CBI had earlier said it its FIR that "it has been alleged that certain officers of the Enforcement Directorate while investigating the cases of money laundering in betting and other such activities have allegedly demanded and accepted huge illegal gratification from the accused and suspect persons in the cases".

The ED's Ahmedabad unit was probing the Rs 2,000-crore IPL betting scandal, and the Rs 5,000-crore money laundering case against alleged hawala operator Afroz Fatta, in which the suspects allegedly sought favours, official sources said.

The CBI claimed that huge bribe amount was allegedly taken by these officers as quid pro quo for various acts of omission and commission.

The case against Singh and others has been registered under the provisions of criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The sources said the ED director had received multiple complaints from various quarters about the alleged demand for bribe by the senior officials of its Ahmedabad unit. The complaints were forwarded to the CBI.