The Enforcement Directorate’s investigation into its contractual staffers who allegedly provided case-related information/documents, in lieu of bribes, to the close associate of a key accused in its money laundering probe related to Pune’s Seva Vikas Co-operative Bank has revealed that the accused were using proceeds of crime to commit these acts and thwart the agency's probe.
Based on the ED’s complaint, Worli police recently registered a case against eight people, including the bank’s ex-chairman, Amar Mulchandani, his close associate Bablu Sonkar and accused contractual staffers Vishal Kudekar and Yogesh Waghule.
According to ED sources, when Kudekar was confronted he confessed his role in this theft of office documents and further revealed that another data entry operator working for the agency, Yogesh Waghule, was also hand-in-glove with him.
Breach of trust
“They had breached the trust reposed on them by the officers of ED. They had secretly collected the investigation file and taken money and assisted Sonkar in stealing them for the benefit of the accused persons. Kudekar gave ₹2,500 to the data entry operator out of ₹13,000 he received from Sonkar,” Atul Jaiswal, Deputy Director (Administration), Mumbai Zonal Office, said in his police complaint.
“As a result of these findings, the accused were using proceeds of the crime of bank fraud to commit these acts. During his examination, Bablu Sonkar revealed that all this was done at the behest of the main suspect – Amar Mulchandani. He further admitted that he had sent stolen copies of ED documents to four other suspects involved in the case so that they could make further strategy to thwart the investigation of the ED. Sonkar also admitted that the other accused used to provide funds to him for these activities and to lure the temporary staff of ED office,” a source said.
He added, “One of the accused gave Sonkar ₹22,000 and was in touch with him through phone and received stolen documents from him via WhatsApp. Sonkar stated that he was asked to keep an eye on ED staff and send stolen information on mobile. Sonkar was receiving funds from Pune via payment apps on different persons’ mobile phones.”
