The Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials on Sunday arrested one Sanjay Agarwal who was involved in smuggling and diversion of duty-free gold. Agarwal, who had a Non-Bailable Warrant (NBW) issued against him by the Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Court in Calcutta, was nabbed from Lonavala, while he was attending a wedding function.
According to the ED, Agarwal was arrested under the provisions of the PMLA and was produced before the court in Calcutta which remanded him to the ED custody for seven days. He had been on the run for more than six months after the court had issued NBW against him in April earlier this year. The NBW had remained unexecuted thus far. In another development in the case, the Anticipatory Bail application of Sanjay Agarwal had also been rejected by the High Court of Calcutta earlier this month.
"Sanjay Agarwal is involved in smuggling and diversion of duty-free gold, imported through the nominated agencies like MMTC and Diamond India Limited. Such imported gold was originally meant for export purposes. The smuggled gold was diverted by Sanjay Agarwal along with his associates in the domestic territory and sold illegally to generate proceeds of crime which were then laundered and projected as untainted property and used for purchasing immovable properties in the name of others," the agency claimed in a statement.
"The case was initiated on the basis of investigations conducted by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) under the sections of the Customs Act.The ED had earlier arrested one Preet Kumar Agarwal in the case and filed Prosecution Complaint before the the court. ED had also attached gold weighing more than 54 kilograms along with three immovable properties totaling to more than Rs 25.25 crore at the time of attachment. Bank account balances amounting to more than Rs 56 lakhs have also been frozen," the statement stated.
