ED attaches Mumbai flats, Lucknow land parcels in money laundering case against ex-UP minister Gayatri Prajapati

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday said it has attached four Mumbai flats and multiple land parcels in Lucknow worth more than Rs 13 crore as part of a money laundering investigation against former Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prajapati. The assets belong to Prajapati, his family members and associates, the agency said in a statement.

The Mumbai flats are located in Malad (West) while seven land parcels, agricultural and residential, are situated in Mohanlal Ganj and Hariharpur in Uttar Pradesh's capital Lucknow.

A provisional order has been issued to attach these assets worth Rs 13.42 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), it said.


Prajapati, while holding the post of Uttar Pradesh's mining minister, misused his official position and acquired huge assets disproportionate to his source of income in the name of his family members and other close associates/ friends which was not commensurate to their known sources of income, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said.

The former minister and his family members laundered the illicit funds generated during his tenure as a minister in the Uttar Pradesh government through various "fictitious and sham" transactions and acquired multiple assets, it alleged.

"He also used bank accounts of his family members to deposit the illegitimate cash earned by him for his illegal gains," the agency said.

With the latest attachment, the total value of assets frozen in this case stands at Rs 50.37 crore.

This money laundering case, filed by the ED in 2021, stems from a Uttar Pradesh vigilance department FIR against Prajapati and those linked to him.