ED Nabs Lawyer Rohit Tandon in Rs 13.56 Cr Money Laundering Case

According to I-T dept sources, the law firm owner had recently declared unaccounted income of over Rs 125 crore.

Image for representational purpose. (Photo: AP)

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday night arrested Delhi-based lawyer Rohit Tandon in connection with the ongoing probe into the Rs 13.56 crore money laundering case allegedly involving him. He will be produced in court later on Thursday. Tandon had reportedly declared unaccounted income worth over Rs 125 crore recently.

A branch manager of Kotak Mahindra Bank in New Delhi had also been arrested on Wednesday in connection with this case. Tandon has allegedly confessed to giving the manager Rs 51 crore.

The lawyer had been interrogated last Friday after the police seized Rs 13.56 crore, including Rs 2.6 crore in new notes, from his law firm’s office in southeast Delhi.

The raid on his law firm in southeast Delhi’s Greater Kailash-I was carried out by the Crime Branch on 10 December.

The recovered amount is close to Rs 13.5 crore. Rs 2.62 crore was found in new Rs 2,000 notes. Besides this, Rs 7.7 crore was in Rs 1,000 notes and Rs 3.06 crore was in Rs 100 notes, along with Rs 11 lakh in denominations of Rs 50. Two note-counting machines were also found.

Ravindra Yadav, Joint Commissioner of Police

According to IT department sources, Tandon, an advocate, had recently declared unaccounted income worth over Rs 125 crore after searches were carried out against him.

The officer said that police had been keeping a watch on the lawyer for a long time.

The police received information that the renowned advocate, who had declared Rs 125 crore a few days ago, was hoarding a huge amount of cash illegally and was engaging in transaction of old and new currency notes.

When the police team raided the office, the rooms were locked and a caretaker was present.

"It's probably one of the several office premises which was mainly used as a ‘cash godown’ guarded by just one person," said the officer.

Tandon is a Supreme Court lawyer, sources said, and lives in south Delhi’s Radhe Mohan Drive. After a raid at his office and residence, he declared Rs 125 crore in unaccounted income to the I-T department.

(With inputs from PTI, Indian Express)