ED claims fabricated invoices recovered from RTO Nagaland
Morung Express News
Dimapur | December 1
Regional Transport Office (RTO) in Nagaland was linked to the announcement by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on November 30 regarding the provisional attachment of properties worth more than Rs 22 crore in a case related to an alleged BS-IV vehicles scam.
A press release from the ED informed that the attached properties were held in the names of firms connected to M/s Diwakar Road Lines and M/s Jatadhara Industries Pvt Ltd, controlled by former MLA of Telugu Desam Party JC Prabhakar Reddy, close associate C Gopal Reddy and their family members. As per the ED, the attachment was related to the ongoing investigation being conducted under PMLA, 2002, in the case relating to the BS-IV vehicles scam.
According to the ED, the Supreme Court of India in its order dated 29.03.2017, had directed that vehicles that were not compliant to BS IV emission norms should not be sold in India by any manufacturer or dealer from April 1, 2017 and further prohibited registration of such vehicles from the same date.
However, the two firms in contravention to the aforesaid order purchased BS-III vehicles from Ashok Leyland Ltd at discount and fraudulently registered the same as BS-IV vehicles by fabricating the invoice copies, the ED alleged.
Investigation revealed that some of the registrations were done in Nagaland, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, it said.
“ED has gathered evidences in the form of fabricated invoices from RTO Authorities in Nagaland and original invoices issued by Ashok Leyland as Scrap for the some vehicles and established the crime,” it claimed. The crime proceeds generated by owning/plying and/or selling these vehicles have been quantified as Rs 38.36 Crore, it added.
As a result of the investigation and searches, properties to the extent of Rs. 6.31 crore consisting of bank balances, cash, jewellery and receivables as well as 68 number of immovable properties to the extent of Rs. 15.79 have been attached, the ED stated in the release. Further investigation is in progress including the role of Ashok Leyland, it added.
Meanwhile, the IANS news agency reported on November 30 that the company said that the probe was not against it and stated: “This matter reported seems to be pertaining to an old investigation from the year 2020-2021. The investigation is not against Ashok Leyland, but against a third party scrap customer." “We have submitted all documents and details as required by the Enforcement Directorate pertaining to this matter, which clearly establishes that we are not implicated in any manner. Ashok Leyland is compliant with all emission requirements," the company was further quoted as saying.
