New Delhi: The Directorate of Enforcement has provisionally attached properties worth lakhs of former Vice Chancellor of Magadh University, Rajendra Prasad, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, in connection with a disproportionate assets case, the agency said through an official release.
As per the release dated December 5, the ED provisionally attached immovable and movable properties worth Rs 64.53 lakh under PMLA in connection with the Disproportionate Assets (DA) case of Rajendra Prasad, former Vice Chancellor, Magadh University.
The immovable properties are registered in the names of family members and the family-owned trust of Rajendra Prasad and are located in Dhanghata, district of Sant Kabir Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, the release stated.
It added that the ED initiated an investigation based on an FIR registered by the Special Vigilance Unit (SVU), Patna, under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and IPC, 1860, against Rajendra Prasad and others, alleging that Prasad, while working as Vice Chancellor, Magadh University, Bodh Gaya, entered into a criminal conspiracy with others and dishonestly cheated the government of Bihar in the process of various confidential printing works (OMR sheets and others).
SVU, Patna conducted searches on the premises related to Rajendra Prasad and seized cash amounting to Rs 1.84 crore and froze the available balance of Rs 90.79 lakh in the bank accounts of Rajendra Prasad, the release further stated.
The probe revealed that from September 2019 to November 2021, Prasad used proceeds of crime to acquire 5 properties in cash in the name of his son Ashok Kumar and RP College represented by his brother Awadhesh Prasad.
The properties that were acquired in the name of RP College have been transferred to Pyari Devi Memorial Welfare Trust on a lease, it said. As per the ED release, Prasad also deposited the proceeds of crime generated in cash in the bank account of Pyari Devi Memorial Welfare Trust (a family-owned trust of Prasad) to portray it as income of the said trust.
The investigation revealed that a 'well-planned conspiracy' was hatched by Prasad, involving his family members, to project the properties acquired with proceeds of crime as untainted properties by using the said family-owned trust as a conduit, the release added. Further investigation is underway.
