Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths on Monday arrested Samajwadi Party leader and former MLA Vinay Shankar Tiwari for financial fraud late in the evening after raids at about 10 places in the country.

Former MLA Vinay Shankar Tiwari, son of late Harishankar Tiwari, and his partner Ajit Pandey, director of his company Gangotri Enterprises, have been arrested in the case.

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An ED team searched places in Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Noida, Mumbai, and other places simultaneously. According to sources, the ED had prepared a chargesheet against him and will be soon submit it in the court.

Sources said that the ED investigation revealed that Messrs Gangotri Enterprises Limited, along with its promoters, directors, guarantee, took advantage of credit facilities worth Rs 1129.44 crore from the consortium of seven banks led by Bank of India. Later, they diverted this amount to other companies and did not return the amount to the banks. This caused a loss of about Rs 754.24 crore to the bank’s consortium.

Earlier in November 2023, the former MLA’s assets worth Rs 72.08 crore were seized by the ED.

The ED took this action on Vinay Tiwari’s company Gangotri Enterprises Limited in the case of grabbing about Rs 1129.44 crore from the bank’s consortium. On the complaint of the banks, the CBI headquarters had registered a case, after which the ED also registered a case under the Money Laundering Act against all the directors, promoters and guarantors of the company including Vinay Tiwari.

In 2023, the zonal office of ED in the capital had seized a total of 27 properties of Vinay Tiwari in Gorakhpur, Maharajganj and Lucknow, including  land, commercial complex, residential complex, residential plots, etc.