The Enforcement Directorate said on Monday it has filed a prosecution complaint in a court against ex-IAS officer Babulal Agarwal and 14 others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 (PMLA) in cases related to criminal misconduct and cheating by a public servant.

The ED filed the charges related to corruption, cheating and forgery in the court of Special PMLA judge Vivek Kumar Verma, Special Public Prosecutor of ED Saurabh Pandey told The Pioneer over telephone.

In November last year, ED provisionally attached properties valued at `27.86 crore of Babulal Agarwal under PMLA.

The attached assets include plant and machinery, balances in bank accounts and immovable properties of Agarwal and his family.

The ED initiated investigations under PMLA on the basis of a FIR registered by Chhattisgarh Police’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988.

This followed discovery of disproportionate assets amassed by Agrawal and his family pursuant to searches conducted by the Income Tax Department in 2010 in the premises of Babulal Agrawal, his Chartered Accountant Sunil Agrawal and the former's family members.

Three more FIRs were registered followed by chargesheets by the CBI against Agrawal and others.

Investigation revealed that Agrawal in connivance with his CA and his brothers Ashok Agrawal and Pawan Agrawal opened over 400 bank accounts in the name of gullible villagers.

Cash was deposited in these and several other accounts. Thirteen shell companies owned and operated by Sunil Agrawal and 26 Delhi and Kolkata-based shell companies owned and managed by Agrawal's family were used to place this amount. This was finally integrated in the form of share capital in M/s Prime Ispat Ltd (PIL), the agency said.

Agrawal was arrested by ED on November 9 and he is in judicial custody.