Lucknow, February 26, 2011 | Updated 10:50 IST

http://www.indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/130960/india/tainted-up-engineers-trail-of-scam-and-fraud.html

CBI raids at the premises of a tainted former chief engineer of the Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation ( UPSIDC) have revealed his involvement in a major bank fraud and money laundering.

CBI teams carried out raids at nine places in UP and Uttarakhand on Thursday and Friday. They seized documents which suggest that Arun Kumar Mishra had parked his ill- gotten wealth under fictitious names in several branches of the Punjab National Bank ( PNB) with the help of the branch managers.

The CBI lodged FIRs against five officials of some PNB branches in Dehradun and Hardwar.

There is already a case against Mishra for his involvement in the Rs 400- crore Tronica City scam in Ghaziabad, but there has been no progress in the case since it was registered in 2007.

The two- day raids were carried out in connection with the bank fraud. It was while investigating a case of money laundering through dozens of fake accounts in a PNB branch in Dehradun that the CBI apparently stumbled on Mishra's links with the case.

Sources said the agency now suspects that Mishra parked the money he embezzled in the Tronica project between 2005 and 2007 in PNB accounts opened under fictitious names.

The first team of CBI sleuths searched Mishra's ancestral house in Ghatampur and his official residence in Kanpur's Nawabganj area on Thursday afternoon. The officials seized some documents and reportedly took Mishra to Ghaziabad.

Another team carried out a raid at his house in Gomti Nagar in Lucknow till late on Thursday evening.

Sources said three CBI teams conducted raids at various places in Dehradun, where Mishra's close relatives live, while three other teams raided certain PNB branches in Dehradun and Hardwar.

A CBI team also conducted a raid at the Lucknow house of M. M. Sharma, a manager of a PNB branch in Dehradun.

The CBI is said to have discovered 13 bank accounts opened under fake names and operated by Mishra.

However, transactions of his illegally- earned money were done through 70 accounts, which also were opened under fake names by the bank managers.

The PNB managers against whom cases have been registered include Sharma, Harish Kamboj and A. K. Bansal.

" Mishra had transferred crores of rupees in PNB bank accounts opened under fake names and addresses. The maximum amounts were deposited in the Vidhan Sabha road PNB branch of Dehradun and the Arya Vanprasth Ashram Road branch of Hardwar," a CBI source said.

Sources said all this money appears to have been earned through illegal means, especially bribes and embezzlement in the Tronia City project, when Mishra was the UPSIDC chief engineer.

The Tronica City, spread over 1,400 acres, was developed by the corporation during the Mulayam Singh Yadav government.

A large number of plots/ houses were allotted at throwaway prices, flouting the norms. Mishra was accused of alloting flats and bungalows after taking heavy bribes. He was also alleged to have pocketed the difference between the market rate and the circle rate of the property.

B. K. Tiwari, one of the complainants in the cases, alleged that Mishra was so corrupt that he used to accept bribe in his office openly and would allot houses on the spot. " He had the backing of some top politicians of the ruling party of that time," Tiwari said.

After the Mayawati government took over, a special investigation team ( SIT) was given the sanction to prosecute Mishra.

The government in 2007 also allowed the SIT to lodge FIRs against Chanchal Kumar Tiwari and K. Dhanlaxmi, the then managing director and joint managing director of the UPSIDC, and others.

CBI investigation reveals all

*Ex- chief engineer Mishra involved in major bank fraud and money laundering

*CBI discovered Mishra operated 13 accounts under fictitious names in Punjab National Bank branches

*Transactions were done through 70 accounts opened with help from bank managers

*Another case against Mishra already filed for his involvement in Rs 400- crore Tronica City scam

*Cases registered against three PNB managers

*Mishra reportedly taken to Ghaziabad by the CBI