The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday launched extensive raids against Nishant Sareen, the Assistant Drug Controller (ADC) currently posted in Dharamshala. The searches, part of a money laundering probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), also targeted Sareen’s relatives and associates, including his father-in-law Ramesh Kumar Gupta and an alleged accomplice Komal Khanna.
According to official sources, the ED teams carried out simultaneous searches at five residential and commercial premises spread across Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Haryana, including Sareen’s residence in Dharamshala, Gupta’s property, and locations linked to Khanna. The raids were carried out based on incriminating inputs related to alleged bribery, misuse of official position, and the generation of illicit wealth during Sareen’s tenure as ADC in Baddi — a prominent pharmaceutical hub in Solan district.
The ED’s case is rooted in an FIR filed in August 2019 by the Himachal Pradesh State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SV&ACB). The FIR had accused Sareen of accepting bribes from pharmaceutical companies operating in Baddi in exchange for regulatory favours. He was arrested the following month, in September 2019, and subsequently released on bail in October. However, despite the pending charges, Sareen was reappointed as ADC in Dharamshala in 2024 — a move that now appears to be under scrutiny, particularly in light of possible political backing.
Sources within the central agency said that Sareen’s alleged modus operandi involved coercion and extortion of pharma firms under the pretext of regulatory compliance, with Khanna reportedly acting as an intermediary. The probe is now focused not only on the trail of the bribe money but also on uncovering whether Sareen enjoyed any form of political patronage that enabled his continued reinstatement and protection despite serious criminal charges.
Officials said that during the searches, documents related to property transactions, luxury items, digital records, and unaccounted cash were examined and some items seized for further forensic analysis. The agency is currently analyzing the materials to ascertain whether these constitute “proceeds of crime†under the PMLA.
The Office of the Drug Controller in Himachal Pradesh functions under the Directorate of Health Safety and Regulation, a critical arm of the State Government tasked with overseeing pharmaceutical regulation. The case now threatens to expose deeper institutional lapses and a potential network of systemic corruption.
