Much of the assets from ill-gotten money that were acquired by arrested Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Sanjeev Hans were done when he was serving as personal secretary to Ram Vilas Paswan when the latter was appointed as Union Food Minister in 2014 till 2019, Secretary to Water Resources Department in Bihar from August 2019 to December 2020, and then as Principal Secretary in the Bihar Energy Department.
These allegations include taking bribe and commission for settling matters at National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission and giving contracts worth thousands of crores to entities who had no experience in carrying out the work, in lieu of a 4% commission.
The ED has attached multiple properties of Hans, a 1997 batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre, along with that of Gulab Yadav, a former MLA of Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD, and other close associates of Hans under the provision of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
A special court for the Money Laundering Act at Patna will hear the case on Monday, 6 January. The Punjab-born Hans, who is a graduate in civil engineering, has become the newest entrant to the “disgraced” but ever-increasing list of IAS officers who have become a household name for the sheer level of corruption that they have allegedly engaged in.
Details exclusively accessed by The Sunday Guardian show the extent of ill-gotten money that Hans allegedly had at his disposal as he bought properties across India in his name and in the names of his family members.
The ED, under the Ministry of Finance, had initiated investigation against Hans on the basis of FIR No. 18/2023 that was lodged against him and others for an alleged rape offence at Police Station Rupaspur, Patna, and a subsequent FIR No. 5/2023 that was registered by Special Vigilance Unit, Bihar.
In July last year, the ED had raided the premises of Hans and former RJD MLA Gulab Yadav in Delhi and Pune. A similar search operation was carried out at five locations in Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata between 10 and 13 September. Later, on 18 October, the two were arrested from Patna and Delhi, respectively.
In all, the ED has carried out searches ten times in this case and has so far arrested 11 people.
As per the details accessed by The Sunday Guardian detailing the alleged misdeeds of Hans and his associates, he and Yadav were allegedly in an illicit relationship with a woman, who practised in the Patna High Court from 2009 to 2015, for over seven years, and to conceal this relationship, Sanjeev Hans was paying the woman a sum of Rs 2 lakhs per month. Additionally, a flat in Lucknow was allegedly given to her, for which Rs 90 lakhs was routed through Sunil Kumar Sinha and his firm, M/s Ex. Army Men’s Protection Services Pvt. Ltd.
The investigators further found that a total of Rs 2.44 crores in cash were allegedly transferred to the woman through hawala channels managed by one Sunil Sinha.
The investigations have also revealed that Hans and Yadav jointly are running a CNG pump on the Pune-Mumbai highway since 2017, for which Rs. 15 lakhs were allegedly transferred to the bank account of Yadav before being moved to the account of M/s Progrowth Enterprises, a company involved in the operation of a CNG pump in Pune. This business was jointly run by Harloveleen Kaur (wife of Sanjeev Hans) and Gulab Yadav. The land for this pump was purchased in 2015 for Rs 1.80 crores, allegedly through suspicious financial dealings.
The investigators have also alleged that as Principal Secretary of the Energy Department, Hans used his official position to promote the interests of his close associate, Praveen Chaudhary, a sub-contractor for various government contracts in lieu of which Chaudhary would give commission.
A luxury flat in Anand Niketan, New Delhi, worth Rs 9.60 crores, was allegedly purchased with part cash payments (Rs. 3.35 crores). The said flat has been seized by the ED. The payment was allegedly made through Praveen Chaudhary. A 500 sq yard plot in Mohali (Sector 101A) was also allegedly purchased for Rs 92.5 lakhs by Hans, with a portion of the payment (Rs 10 lakhs) made from the account of Harloveleen Kaur. The industrial plot is suspected to be a benami property in the name of Kamalkant Gupta (who is the samdhi [relative] of Suresh Singla). Suresh Singla is a close associate of Hans.
Similarly, two villas at Glenview Resort, Kasauli, valued at Rs 2.5 crores each, were allegedly purchased in the name of L.D. Hans (father of Sanjeev Hans) and Gur Baltej Singh (brother-in-law of Sanjeev Hans). During a search operation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a cheque for Rs 50 lakh was found, further implicating L.D. Hans in the property deal.
Another four cottages at Glenview Villas, Kasauli, were allegedly purchased in the names of Varun Singla (son of Suresh Singla) and his mother-in-law, Anita Gupta. These cottages are believed to be benami properties for Hans, with funding arranged by Suresh Singla. Investigations have revealed that Hans received a Mercedes car allegedly as a bribe from a prepaid meter company. This car was apparently found in the possession of Gur Baltej Singh, Hans’ brother-in-law. The car is registered in the name of Tarun Raghav, a resident of Gurugram, who is claimed to be a friend of Gur Baltej Singh.
ED investigation has revealed that Hans has allegedly earned illicit money by indulging in corrupt practices while holding various prime postings in Bihar government and also during his Central Deputations during the period of 2018-2023.
In what will raise concern at the highest level, in 2018, Hans allegedly helped settle a matter that was listed in the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC). During this time, he was serving as Personal Secretary (PS) to Ram Vilas Paswan, the Minister of Consumer Affairs. The person whom Hans allegedly helped in lieu of money was Anubhav Aggarwal, Managing Director of RNA Corp, who was facing arrest.
The names of two former judicial members of NCDRC have been found by the investigators in the conversation between the two.
Investigations have revealed that Rs 123 crores was paid as a commission for the installation of smart electric meters in Bihar. The contracts for this project were valued at approximately Rs 997 crores (for South Bihar) and Rs 2,850 crores (for North Bihar) for the years 2022 and 2023, respectively.
At the time, Hans was serving as the Principal Secretary in the Energy Department, Government of Bihar, as well as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Bihar State Power Holding Company Limited (BSPHCL). His tenure in these positions spanned from 27 July 2020 to 1 August 2024.
The contract for the smart meter installation was awarded to Genus Power Infrastructure Limited, a company based in Jaipur. Genus Power is engaged in the manufacturing of smart meters and the execution of related installation projects for various state governments across India. All this apart from the seven immovable properties, viz., three land parcels in Nagpur and three flats in Jaipur, have been acquired in the name of close associates of Hans by utilizing Proceeds of Crime (POC) generated by him out of alleged criminal activity that ED has mentioned earlier.
During the course of search operations, shares worth Rs 60 crores (approximately) were found in the newly opened Demat Accounts of the family members of one of the close associates of Hans and 70 bank accounts involving huge cash deposits of Rs 6 crores (approximately). Further, the total seizure in this case includes gold jewellery and luxury watches amounting to Rs 80 lakh and Rs 65 lakh, respectively, recovered from the Patna and Delhi premises of Hans; unexplained cash of Rs 1.07 crores; 13 kg silver bullion worth Rs 11 lakh (approximately); 1.5 kg gold bullion/jewellery worth Rs 1.25 crores (approximately) and forex worth Rs 20 lakh from the premises of his associates.
It is now up to the ED to prove its charges as these will be dismissed as motivated by the arrested IAS.