More than Rs 1.01 crore in cash and two luxury cars were seized in West Bengal on Friday after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted simultaneous raids as part of a money laundering investigation into an alleged "organised" human trafficking and prostitution racket being operated in certain bars and restaurants, officials said.
At least eight premises in Bidhannagar (North 24 Parganas district), Kolkata, and Siliguri were raided by the federal probe agency under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.
The search operations led to the seizure of over Rs 1.01 crore in cash and two luxury cars -- a Land Rover Defender and a Jaguar, digital devices, and various property documents. Officials also identified several bank accounts linked to the accused, used for handling the illicit funds.
During the raids, the ED officials also discovered "plastic notes" being used as currency within the dance bar premises for payments related to trafficking and other illegal activities.
The money laundering case stems from multiple FIRs and chargesheets filed by the state police against the key accused, identified as Jagjit Singh, Ajmal Siddiqui, Bishnu Mundra and their associates.
The investigation revealed that the accused were involved in exploiting vulnerable women by luring them with false promises of employment and coercing them into prostitution.
The illicit activities generated a substantial amount of cash, which was then laundered through multiple companies controlled by the accused, the officials said.
Multiple FIRs against the accused were registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Arms Act, and Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1986 - all of which fall under the ambit of the PMLA, 2002.
The officials said that further investigation into the money trail and international linkages of the racket is underway.
