ED Noose Tightens Around Mohd Azam Khan, Mukhtaar Ansari And Ateeq Ahmad

New Delhi, Sep 20 (TNA) More trouble is in the offing for mafia dons Ateeq Ahmad and Mukhtaar Ansari as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been granted permission to investigate various matters pertaining to them. Former UP minister and Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mohd Azam Khan will also be investigated by the ED, sources say.

The three will be investigated for money laundering. The Enforcement Directorate had earlier registered a case against these three leaders in a money laundering case. Now the ED has got permission from the court to interrogate these three leaders by taking them in custody. After this, the ED team can soon interrogate the three leaders.

Azam is accused of grabbing the land of farmers. According to information, Khan took the lands of the farmers by flouting the rules. On July 1, the Enforcement Directorate had registered a money laundering case against Mafia and BSP MLA Mukhtar Ansari, lodged in Banda jail in UP.

It is alleged that Mukhtar Ansari illegally occupied a government land and rented it out to a private company for seven years at the rate of Rs 1.7 crore per annum. The ED will conduct its inquiry in the matter of this amount and possession.

The ED had also filed a money laundering case against Mafia Ateeq Ahmed. It is alleged that last year the police had identified 16 companies of Ateeq, many of which were benami. In these companies, the name is of someone else, but indirectly money has been invested in them.

The business of most of these companies is related to real estate. It has also been learned that the transactions of these companies are in crores. Police officers had told that out of the 16 companies about which information has been received, three companies are registered in the name of Atieeq's wife Shaista Parveen and five in the name of relatives. There are eight companies about which it is not clear who owns them.