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

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is set to file a money laundering case and probe alleged illegal transactions and tainted assets created by slain gangster Vikas Dubey, his family members and associates, officials said on Saturday. They said the agency's zonal office in Lucknow has written to the Kanpur police in this context on July 6 seeking details of all FIRs and chargesheets filed against him and persons linked to him, and the latest update in all these cases.

A senior Kanpur police official, who did not want to be named, confirmed that Kanpur Range Inspector General (IG) Mohit Agarwal has received the ED's letter. The officials said the ED will soon file a complaint under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to probe criminal proceeds of crime that were allegedly generated 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, they said. 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, they added.

Some police FIRs have been shared while some more information is being obtained by the agency, the officials said. According to the Kanpur police official, the ED, in it's 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 has also asked for a list of all FIRs lodged in criminal or civil cases against Dubey, his family and close associates, and chargesheets filed, he said.

It is also gathering information about those who invested in properties through the gangster, he added. The ED, according to officials, is also seeking details from other law enforcement agencies about possible undisclosed foreign assets of Dubey and others apart from seeking details of accounts from various banks.

The officials 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, officials have said, has 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.

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