Upendra Rai has been accused of running extortion racket and is in judicial custody.

The Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached assets, including nine immovable properties, worth ₹26.65 crore of journalist Upendra Rai in a money laundering case.

The case has been registered on the basis of an FIR lodged by the CBI alleging extortion by Mr. Rai and others. He was arrested by the Directorate in June and is still in judicial custody. The agency has also submitted a charge sheet.

According to the ED, Mr. Rai was found involved in extortion of huge amounts of money from different companies and corporate houses. He allegedly generated and laundered of proceeds of crime worth at least Rs.29.58 crore.

“The funds so generated were projected as received from different companies in the name of consultancy services provided by him. Rai sent cash to different companies and asked them to return it to him through banking channels. These transactions were not legal. To give genuine and legal shape to those transactions, he insisted that those companies entered into consultancy agreements,” said an official.

False invoices were issued and payments through banking channels against the cash sent by Mr. Rai, said the agency.

The Directorate has alleged that another modus operandi used by Mr. Rai was to receive money through the shell companies or proprietorship firms.

“These shell companies are controlled by entry operators. The entry operators were contacted by Rai, from whom he obtained bank entries against the cash given by him or his associates,” the official said.

The accused also used the funds to repay the loans taken from financial organisations to acquire some other properties. These properties are spread across Delhi, Noida, Lucknow and other places.

The details of such nine properties have been identified, which are owned by Rai and his associates. He also operated 20 bank accounts in his name and in the name of his wife, brother, sister and other associates and invested the money generated illegally in the fixed deposits and mutual funds, the agency said.

The amount invested in three mutual funds in the name of Mr. Rai and his accomplishes have also been traced. He had bought Audi-A6, Innova-Crysta and Mercedes-Maybach cars using the ill-gotten money, alleged the agency.