The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a prosecution complaint against four persons — Raj Kumar Goenka, Ashok Kumar Goenka, Ratan Kumar Goenka and Pankaj Agrawal — under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), before a special court in Patna relating to misuse of banking channels for huge suspicious illegal cash transactions post-demonetisation

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a prosecution complaint against four persons — Raj Kumar Goenka, Ashok Kumar Goenka, Ratan Kumar Goenka and Pankaj Agrawal — under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), before a special court in Patna relating to misuse of banking channels for huge suspicious illegal cash transactions post-demonetisation.

The probe agency has demanded action against the accused for allegedly committing an offence of money laundering and confiscation of the attached assets worth Rs 4.61 crore in the form of movable and immovable properties in the names of Raj Kumar Goenka and his family members.

Raj and Ashok of Muzaffarpur had fraudulently and dishonestly opened several bank accounts by misusing photographs and documents of their employees. These accounts were utilised for huge cash deposits without the knowledge of the account holders, the ED has said.

The cash deposits were transferred by RTGS/NEFT to the bank accounts of the associates of the accused located in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata among other cities. The agency has registered the PMLA case against the accused on the basis of a December 2016 police FIR filed in the Mithanpura police station of Muzaffarpur.

An investigation revealed that Pankaj Agarwal, a resident of Kolkata, has been facilitating the money laundering at Kolkata in collusion with the Goenka brothers. The ED has searched the Kolkata premises of Pankaj and seized documents relating to shell firms “controlled” by him.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had declared demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes on November 8, 2016.