The Enforcement Directorate has attached another immovable property of former Appellate Tribunal for Foreign Exchange (ATFE-New Delhi) chairman at Mahipalpur here in connection with a disproportionate assets case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The 400 sq-yard property was acquired by accused O.P. Nahar for only Rs.45,000 through a general power of attorney executed way back in 1988. The accused spent a whopping Rs.1.09 crore towards construction on the said property. “The aforesaid cost of construction was estimated by the Valuation Officer of the Income-Tax Department based on the period of construction as 2004-05.”
The agency has so far been unable to trace one Raghubir Singh Maik, a resident of Sonepat in Haryana, who had executed the power of attorney in favour of the accused. His neighbours revealed that his house was locked for the past several years.
The ED alleges that Mr. Nahar had not mentioned about the property in question in his September 2012 letter giving particulars of his immovable and movable assets. Treating it as “proceeds of crime” under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the agency has attached the property.
The Directorate had earlier this year attached another South Extension property worth Rs.1.82 crore purportedly belonging to the former ATFE-New Delhi chairman. The CBI had earlier instituted a preliminary inquiry against Mr. Nahar in December 2007, which revealed that he had while serving as a public servant in various capacities between 1990 and July 2005 amassed properties disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Accordingly, a regular case was registered and a charge sheet filed against him in 2010, alleging that he had acquired disproportionate assets of Rs.2.74 crore. The CBI had identified 12 assets allegedly belonging to Mr. Nahar.
