Probe Agency Seizes 45 Vintage Cars After Raids In Hyderabad

The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday said it has seized 45 old cars, including some vintage ones, apart from Rs 23 lakh in cash and some foreign currency during searches in Hyderabad in a money laundering case linked to alleged illegal sale of government land.

The searches were undertaken on Monday at five locations in Hyderabad under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the federal probe agency said in a statement.

The ED case stems from an FIR registered by Telangana Police against private persons and government officials in connection with "illegal" sale of government land involving forgery of documents and manipulation of revenue records.

Describing the case, the agency said government land or 'Bhoodan' land at Nagaram village under the Maheshwaram Mandal (Ranga Reddy district) was "falsely claimed" by a woman named Khaderunissa as her ancestral property.

Revenue records were "fraudulently" mutated and the land was sold to various entities in association with several middlemen. These middlemen, in connivance with government officials, "forged" the documents and changed the land revenue records, resulting in de-notifying the said land from the prohibited list and its subsequent sale to some private parties, the ED alleged.

Residences and farmhouses, including that of Khaderunissa, Mohd Munawar Khan, Mohd Lateef Sharfan, Mohd Akhtar Sharfan and Mohd Sukoor, were searched and "incriminating" documents related to fraudulent sale and purchase of government land, Indian currency worth Rs 23 lakh and 12,000 UAE Dirhams were seized, the agency said.

Forty-five used cars, including several vintage makes, were also seized from the farmhouse premises of Mohd Munawar Khan, it said.

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