After being convicted of money laundering in a coal linkage usage case, Md. Ezhar Ansari was taken into custody by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on January 16, 2024, in accordance with the terms of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. Subsequently, on January 17, 2024, Md. Ezhar Ansari appeared before the Honorable Special PMLA Court in Ranchi. The Honorable Court granted the ED a six-day detention period for Md. Ezhar Ansari.
Based on an FIR filed by the Jharkhand Police against truck driver Sayyaid Salmani, who works for Ezhar Ansari, Ezhar Ansari, and others under many provisions of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the ED began an investigation. Subsequently, the Jharkhand Police filed a charge sheet under different provisions of the Coal Mines Act and the IPC, 1860 against Md. Ezhar Ansari and others. In this instance, the Jharkhand Police also confiscated the aforementioned vehicle and 19 tons of unlawfully smuggled coal.
According to an ED investigation, Md. Ezhar Ansari abused the coal linkage scheme, which gave small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) access to discounted coal for their own purposes. About thirteen (thirteen) of these SME businesses in Ezhar Ansari received about 86568 tons of coal, which has a market worth of Rs 71 crore. However, Ezhar Ansari diverted and sold the coal on the open market, generating an identical amount of Proceeds of Crime, rather than utilizing it for captive use.
These 13 companies/entities have been determined to be non-operational/shell entities after more research. Prior to this, on March 3, 2023, inspections of the locations connected to Ezhar Ansari turned up proceeds of crime of Rs 3.58 crore in addition to several damning digital and paper records.
The accused individual obtained substantial proceeds of crime, according to the ED investigation, by investing the proceeds of crime in real estate and selling such coal (at discounted rates) in open coal markets in Varanasi and Dhanbad. An investigation revealed that Ezhar Ansari used to bribe or commission some public employees in place of such discounted coal allotment.
He was repeatedly summoned under section 50 of the PMLA, 2002, for the purpose of an inquiry, but he did not show up or provide a response to ED. On January 16, 2024, the ED searched three locations in Hazaribagh that were connected to him and took him into custody there alone. Additional research is currently being conducted.
