ED attaches Rs 17.82 crore assets of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s money manager

Tribune News Service

Sumedha Sharma

Gurugram, March 31

In yet another crackdown against the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached movable and immovable properties of his close aide Surender, alias Chiku.

Handled gang’s proceeds of crime

• Surender, alias Chiku, is the key money manager and investor for the Lawrence Bishnoi gang
• He was “managing the gang’s crime proceeds and acquired properties in the names of his family members and relatives”

The properties, worth around Rs 17.82 crore, are situated in Narnaul (Haryana) and Jaipur (Rajasthan). The assets, registered in the names of Chiku’s family members, have been attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. Besides money laundering through mining activity in Narnaul, Chiku is also accused in cases of murder, extortion and kidnapping in Haryana. The attached properties include cash, bank balance and land.

According to the agency, Chiku was the key money manager and investor for Bishnoi. He was “managing the crime proceeds of Bishnoi gang through his men and acquired properties in the names of his family members and relatives”.

Arrested by the ED in connection with an illegal mining case in February, he is currently lodged in Tihar Jail. The agency had then conducted searches against his family members and acquaintances in Rajasthan and Haryana.

The probe confirmed his involvement in the “dubious” mining business in Narnaul through Nimawat Granites Private Limited.

Chiku reportedly introduced his brother-in-law Vikash Kumar as a director and shareholder in that company which was awarded a mining tender at Bakhrija mines in Narnaul. Through that deal, Surender Singh Chiku and Vikash Kumar made Rs 2.84 crore without any investment.

“The proceeds of crime extorted from various mining businesses were acquired through legal banking channel, channelised into normal economy and used for purchasing immovable properties and personal consumption,” claims the investigating agency.

The agency said it conducted a drone survey of the mined area in the presence of mining and revenue officials to make calibrated estimates of the money extorted from mining businesses under the patronage of gangster Chiku.

“More than 1 lakh metric tonnes of stones were extracted from these mines,” the ED said.

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