New Delhi, Dec 6 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate on Friday seized Rs 13.5 crore cash following a fresh round of searches in connection with a money laundering investigation linked to alleged irregularities in a Malegaon-based cooperative bank, officials said.

Seven premises in Ahmedabad and Mumbai were raided by the central probe agency during the day, they said.

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The officials said Rs 13.5 crore in cash has been seized.

The ED had conducted searches last month in Maharashtra and Gujarat in the case registered against a Malegaon-based trader, Siraj Ahmed Harun Meman, who allegedly misused bank accounts of various people in the Nashik Merchant Co-operative Bank (NAMCO) to carry out transactions worth more than Rs 100 crore.

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The money laundering case, filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), stems from a November 7 Malegaon Police FIR filed against Meman, who runs a tea and cold drinks agency, and some of his associates.

The money trail investigation conducted by the ED of "debit transactions" made through accounts maintained with NAMCO Bank and with the Bank of Maharashtra shows that the "majority of such amounts were transferred to 21 sole proprietary concerns", the officials said.

Transactions worth hundreds of crores were credited to these accounts, mostly through online banking channels, and were further transferred to various firms and companies, they said.

It was found that "huge" amounts worth crores of rupees were withdrawn "in cash" from accounts of various "dummy" entities and this cash was distributed through 'Angadiyas' and hawala operators based in Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Surat.

The complainant in the case is a man whose bank account was allegedly misused for illegal transactions, triggering speculation that the accounts were misused for routing election funds.

The ED has found debit and credit entries worth more than Rs 100 crore each in these accounts.

A series of more than 2,500 transactions and around 170 bank branches spread in states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Odisha and West Bengal are under the scanner of the ED as funds have either been deposited or withdrawn from these accounts, sources had said.

The agency suspects that the accused may be using these funds to divert and route funds for some people and companies for money laundering and hawala trade by misusing the banking credentials of common people by using them as 'mule' accounts.

Two people, Aagani Akram Mohammad Shafi and Vasim Valimohmad Bhesaniya, have been arrested by the ED in this case.

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