ED Confiscates Properties Of Forest Ranger In Bhopal

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Bhopal, has confiscated two independent houses belonging to a forest ranger and his wife convicted in a money laundering case in 2023, officials said on Friday. The houses, worth crores of rupees, are situated at Minal Residency. 

An FIR was registered by the Lokayukta Police, Bhopal, against Harishankar Gurjar (a Ranger in Forest Department, Khandwa), and his wife Seema Gurjar under the Prevention of Corruption Act, for allegedly possessing assets disproportionate to their known sources of income.

Acting on the FIR, ED carried out an investigation which revealed that proceeds of crime were converted into immovable assets of Gurjar, his wife, and their son Abhishek Gurjar and, therefore, the same were provisionally attached under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

After a trial, on April 29, 2023, PMLA Special Court, Bhopal, convicted the couple and sentenced them to three years of rigorous imprisonment and also ordered confiscation of the attached properties.

The confiscation order was subsequently upheld by the high court and thereafter by the Supreme Court order of January 15 this year which includes the above two properties. Accordingly, the ED took possession of the properties.