ED Seizes ₹3.5 Crore Assets from Former Railway Engineer in Corruption Case

Patna, August 23: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has temporarily seized assets worth approximately ₹3.5 crore linked to late Ranjit Kumar Borah, a former Deputy Chief Electrical Engineer of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) in Maligaon, as part of a money laundering investigation.

The seized assets include a residential flat valued at around ₹3.28 crore in Patna, registered under the name of Sonal Jain, and a fixed deposit of approximately ₹21.24 lakh in Canara Bank.

The ED’s investigation was initiated based on an FIR filed by the CBI’s Chief Investigating Officer in New Delhi, citing violations under IPC Section 120-B and Sections 7 and 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (amended in 2018).

The case revolves around allegations that Borah solicited and accepted illegal bribes from private railway contractors in exchange for undue benefits in the allocation and execution of contracts for the Northeast Frontier Railway.

According to the investigation, the CBI seized the alleged bribe amount during a delivery on December 14, 2021, leading to the arrest of the accused. The CBI subsequently filed a chargesheet in 2022.

The ED’s inquiry reportedly revealed that Borah demanded and received bribes from the owners of the contracting firm, M/s Sunshine, namely Chintan Jain and Nayan Chandra Jain.

The agency further alleged that the proceeds of the crime were used to purchase a flat in Platinum Towers, Gurugram, registered under M/s Sunshine. This property was later sold in 2024 for approximately ₹3.5 crore.

According to the ED, the funds obtained from the sale were subsequently transferred through the bank accounts of M/s Sunshine, Chintan Jain, and his wife Sonal Jain.

This latest temporary seizure is part of the ED’s ongoing investigation into the alleged creation, utilization, and money laundering of proceeds from the railway bribery scandal.

The agency reported that the funds from the sale of the Gurugram property were ultimately used to repay a home loan taken for the residential flat in Patna registered under Sonal Jain’s name and to make a fixed deposit in Canara Bank.

These assets are believed to represent the reinvestment and integration of the proceeds of crime allegedly acquired through the bribery scandal linked to the late Ranjit Kumar Borah, who passed away on September 6, 2024, while the investigation was still ongoing.