ED attaches Rs 58.15-L assets in MBBS aspirants for seats cheating case

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached immovable and movable assets worth Rs 58.15 lakh which pertain to accused Raghunath Behera, his accomplice Soumyakanta Mohanty and their relatives in connection with a case of cheating the aspirants of MBBS seats in Odisha.

These assets included bank balances worth Rs 12.15 lakh and immovable assets worth Rs 46 lakh and were attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), according to a statement from the probe agency.

The ED initiated the investigation under PMLA on the basis of various first information reports (FIRs) and charge sheets filed by the crime branch, CID, Odisha Police, against accused Raghunath Behera and others for duping a number of aspirants from Odisha and beyond with a false promise to provide medical (MBBS) seats in different Medical colleges under management quota, the agency said on Thursday.

During the investigation under PMLA, it came to notice that there are various FIRs and charge sheets under different police stations in Odisha against Raghunath Behera, Soumyakant Mohanty and their accomplice in connection with cheating many innocent aspirants on false assurances to provide MBBS seats in different medical colleges under management quota and thereby accumulating proceeds of crime, the statement said.

The statement from the probe agency said the attached properties of Rs 58.15 lakh were acquired from the said proceeds of crime and are found in possession of accused Raghunath Behera, Soumyakant Mohanty and their relatives. Further investigation into the matter is in progress.