Hyderabad: As part of the investigation into alleged money laundering involving its former assistant director Bollineni Srinivasa Gandhi, the Enforce-ment Directorate, which recently registered a case against the official, is understood to have taken up a detailed review of all the cases that he had dealt with during his long tenure.
On the other hand, the CBI, which registered a disproportionate assets case against the official, has stumbled upon evidence of investments made by Gandhi and obtained documents pertaining to his properties in AP.
For the top bosses of ED based in New Delhi, the fact that a former colleague brought disrepute to the agency has led them to entrust the probe into all matters concerning Mr Gandhi to an official of the rank of deputy director.
Sources told Deccan Chronicle that during his long stint as assistant director in ED from 2012 to early 2019, Mr Gandhi was associated directly and indirectly with many high-profile investigations.
“For the ED, it is essential to know whe-ther there were deliberate moves made to go slow on some investigations and the reasons for that or whether he was proceeding swiftly in some cases and why. Since the ED is probing the money laundering angle, the agency has to know from where the money was generated which has then been allegedly laundered,” they said.
Mr Gandhi had investigated the disproportionate assets case against YSRC chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, the Sujana Group tax evasion case, the `100 crore demonetisation case of Musaddilal Jewellers and cases involving mining scam accused Gali Janardhan Reddy. “There are several other cases and all of them are being revie-wed,” sources said.
It is learnt that after the CBI registered disproportionate assets case against Mr Gandhi, the ED bosses in Delhi decided to go to the depths of the matter and therefore swiftly registered a case and entrusted the probe to a senior ED official.
“This case is of utmost importance to the ED and we are going into great lengths to unravel any wrongdoing by the official,” an official said.
Without going into the specifics, sources said that there are a few cases wherein the delay in the probe was unexplained or some cases were closed by imposing penalties. “He will be called for questioning at a later stage and confronted with several aspects which will include his handling of certain cases, to his properties and money laundering. The investigation is still in a nascent stage,” they said. It was only on July 23 that the ED had registered a case against Gandhi.
On the other hand, the CBI has made significant progress in its probe against the official. The agency is understood to have laid their hands on certain documents pertaining to his properties in Amaravati besides learning about his investments.
“He has huge fixed deposits, bank balances and made some more investments which are being verified. Since many accused have benami properties, it is a huge task to get the documents linking the accused with the properties. It will still take some time for us to get some more evidences after which he will be called for questioning,” sources said.
Mr Gandhi and his wife Sireesha are said to own assets in Kankipa-du, Mangalagiri, Vijaya-wada and Kukatpally and prima facie the CBI found that he amassed wealth to the tune of `3.75 crore. The CBI had registered a case against Gandhi and his wife on July 9.
