Teams of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday conducted raids in Bhopal, Gwalior and Jabalpur cities and searched the houses and offices of an absconding real estate agent, against whom the Income Tax (IT) Department has issued a ‘lookout’ circular.

The ED had registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against Saurabh Sharma under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) a few days ago.

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The ED teams, accompanied by jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), also carried out search operations at the residence of one Rohit Tiwari at Jabalpur. Tiwari is said to be a relative of Sharma and both are involved in business together. Sharma is said to have invested large sums of alleged black money in Tiwari’s property business.

Sources said the ED sleuths came to carry out the raids in vehicles with ‘PRESS’ written on them.

The ED teams searched the lavish house of Sharma at Arera Colony in Bhopal. Searches were also conducted at Sharma’s ancestral home in Vinay Nagar Sector-2 at Gwalior.

On Thursday, the Lokayukta Special Court at Bhopal rejected Saurabh Sharma’s anticipatory bail application.

Sharma is a former constable of the Madhya Pradesh Transport Department. He got the job in 2015 on compensatory grounds, after his father R K Sharma, who was a government doctor, passed away during service. Saurabh, however, took voluntary retirement from service (VRS) in 2023 and started his real estate business.

On 20 December, in the biggest seizure of gold in Madhya Pradesh so far, teams of the Income Tax (IT) Department and Bhopal Police had confiscated gold bars weighing about 54 kg, worth around Rs 41 crore, and Rs 10 crore in cash from an abandoned SUV parked inside a farmhouse located in Mendori village in the Ratibad area on the outskirts of Bhopal.

The seizure came a few hours after teams of the MP Lokayukta raided the house and office of real estate agent Saurabh Sharma in the posh locality of Arera Colony in Bhopal.

The Lokayukta team had recovered 2.34 quintal silver and Rs 2.87 crore cash from Sharma’s house.

The gold and cash seized from the SUV were also said to be linked to Sharma.

The car reportedly belonged to one Chetan Singh Gaur, who is a close associate of Saurabh Sharma.

The SUV had an RTO (Regional Transport Officer) plate on its windshield and officials also recovered a beret of the MP Transport Department inside the car.

Following the confiscation of the gold, silver and cash, Saurabh Sharma, along with his wife Divya, reportedly fled to Dubai. He is still absconding.

Sharma is said to be very closely linked to a minister in the Madhya Pradesh government and several other politicians and serving and retired bureaucrats.

The raids at his premises and the seizure of the gold has brought under the spotlight an alleged nexus involving politicians, government officers and real estate entities in Madhya Pradesh. Sources said the cash recovered during the seizure could well be part of the black money stashed by politicians and bureaucrats with Sharma.