The Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out searches at 19 locations across four states on late Friday as part of its investigation into an Rs 85 crore loan fraud case. Former Bihar minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Alok Kumar Mehta is one of the accused in the case.
The ED is probing allegations of money laundering linked to fraudulent loans issued by the Vaishali Shahari Vikas Cooperative Bank (VSVCB), which was founded by Mehta’s father in the 1980s.
An inspection by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) uncovered loans worth Rs 85 crore disbursed to 383 fake beneficiaries between April 2020 and December 2022.
A police complaint had already been filed against the bank’s manager, Syed Shahnawaz Wazih, its CEO, Vipin Tiwari, and its chairman, Sanjeev Kumar. In December 2023, the RBI revoked the bank’s license and halted its operations.
On Friday, the ED conducted raids at nine locations in Bihar, including Patna and Hajipur, along with one location in Delhi, five in Kolkata, and four in Uttar Pradesh. The investigation has also extended to cold storage businesses owned by Alok Mehta and other bank officials.
Speculations are rife that Alok Mehta, who currently represents the Ujiarpur assembly constituency in Bihar, might be promoted within the RJD and could replace Jagadanand Singh in the state unit leadership during the party’s executive meeting on January 18.
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Mehta previously served as Bihar’s Minister for Revenue and Land Reforms from August 2022 to January 2024 when RJD was part of the coalition government.
The Vaishali Shahari Vikas Cooperative Bank, central to this probe, was chaired by Alok Mehta from 1995 to 2012 after succeeding his father, Tulsi Das Mehta, a prominent leader from the backward community. Presently, Alok Mehta’s nephew, Sanjeev Mehta, is listed as the chairman.
Neither Alok Mehta nor the RJD has issued a statement regarding the raids. JD(U) leader Neeraj Kumar criticised the RJD, claiming financial misconduct is common among its leaders. “Such allegations against RJD leaders are not new,” he remarked.
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