ED to register money laundering case against gangster Vikas Dubey's family, aides

New Delhi/Lucknow: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will file a money laundering case and launch a probe into the alleged illegal transactions and tainted assets created by slain Kanpur-based gangster Vikas Dubey, his family members and associates.

The central financial probe agency's zonal office in Lucknow has written to the Kanpur Police in this context on July 6 and sought details of all FIRs and chargesheets filed against him and persons linked to him.

News agency PTI cited a senior Kanpur Police official saying that Kanpur Range Inspector General (IG) Mohit Agarwal has received the ED's letter.

विकास दुबे के खिलाफ प्रवर्तन निदेशायलय (ED) मनी लॉन्ड्रिंग का केस दर्ज करने जा रही है. यूपी पुलिस के केस को आधार बनाकर विकास दुबे के खिलाफ ये केस दर्ज किया जाएगा.#VikasDubeyDiary #VikasDubeyhttps://t.co/xjNUQC2vyz — Zee News (@ZeeNews) July 11, 2020

According to reports, the agency will soon file a complaint under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to probe criminal proceeds of crime that were allegedly committed by Dubey, his associates and family members, and if this money was subsequently used for creation of illegal movable and immovable properties.

It is alleged that Dubey, through his criminal activities, amassed wealth in his and his family's name.

At present, over two dozen named and 'benami' assets linked to Dubey and his family in Uttar Pradesh and some adjoining areas, bank deposits and fixed deposit receipts are under the scanner of the central probe agency.

The agency, in its letter to IG Agarwal, said, "It has come to the notice that Vikas Dubey, notorious history-sheeter and prime accused in the massacre of eight policemen in an ambush in Kanpur is involved in many criminal cases for many years and accumulated wealth through criminal activities in his name and in the name of his family and associates."

The central agency is also gathering information about those who invested in properties through the gangster, the official said.

Even though Dubey is dead, the scheme of PMLA enables the agency to continue criminal probe against accomplices of the prime accused in laundering the proceeds of crime and the properties acquired as a result of this criminal activity.

Section 72 of the PMLA provides for "continuation of proceedings in the event of death or insolvency."

Dubey, 47, was shot dead on Friday by a team of the Uttar Pradesh Police's Special Task Force (STF), who claimed he was trying to flee after the car carrying him from Ujjain overturned on an isolated stretch of a highway on the outskirts of Kanpur city.

Dubey had about 60 police FIRs registered against him, including the recent ambush killing of eight policemen after midnight on July 3 outside his home in Bikru village under the Chaubeypur police station area of Kanpur district.

The police party was going to arrest Dubey in connection with a criminal case filed against him when they were trapped and shot dead by the gangster and his henchmen, who fired from rooftops. 

In a related development, the Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe various aspects of the slain history-sheeter, cases registered against him and his alleged links.

According to reports, the SIT has been constituted under the chairmanship of UP Additional Chief Secretary Sanjay Bhoosreddy to investigate the Kanpur incident, in which eight policemen were killed in an ambush on the night of July 3.

ADG Hariram Sharma and DIG J Ravindra Gaur have been named as the other members of the SIT. The newly constituted SIT will submit its report by July 31, 2020.