ED arrests Surendranagar official in Gujarat, says found ₹67 lakh cash at home

AHMEDABAD: The Enforcement board of directors (ED) has arrested a revenue ship's officer in the Surendranagar collectorate for alleged money laundering linked to depravation in land-use permissions, and seized ₹67.50 lakh in cash in from his abode, according to a remand application before a special PMLA court in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.The court remanded him in ED custody till January 1.The accused, Chandrasinh Mori, was posted as a deputy mamlatdar (equivalent to a tehsildar) and executive magistrate in the Surendranagar collectorate and entrusted with the verification and processing of applications under the Saurashtra Ghar Khed Tenancy Settlement and Agricultural Lands Ordinance, 1949.ED told the court that his official position enabled Mori to control the pace and outcome of applications relating to change of land use and allied statutory permissions.Mori was arrested on the night of December 23 in Surendranagar.On Wednesday evening, the district collector Rajendrakumar Patel was also removed from the post and not given a fresh assignment. An order by the General Administration Department (GAD) said Patel’s services had been “placed at the disposal of GAD until further orders”. District Development Officer KS Yagnik will temporarily hold additional charge as the collector.The ED action follows a first information report (FIR) registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau on December 23 under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Since these offences are scheduled offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the agency registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) and initiated a parallel investigation.The remand note stated that Mori allegedly demanded and collected bribes as “speed money” to expedite applications, with amounts fixed and calculated on a per-square-metre basis. The agency claimed payments were routed through intermediaries whose details were recorded by the accused.During searches conducted under PMLA, cash amounting to ₹67.50 lakh was seized from the accused’s bedroom. ED claimed that Mori admitted in his statement that the cash represented bribe money collected directly and through middlemen from applicants seeking favourable or faster processing of land-use matters.The agency also alleged that Mori had generated proceeds of crime exceeding ₹1 crore through abuse of his official position and that properties acquired from such proceeds were yet to be identified.