The chargesheet in the disproportionate case against Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Sachin Sawant was turned in by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday. The investigation agency detained the Additional Commissioner of Customs and GST in June.
The IRS agent is charged with accumulating assets that were out of proportion to his recognised sources of income and laundering those funds through benami properties and his friends’ money.
The ED looked into a Malayalam actress who has been in numerous South Indian blockbusters as part of the investigation against Sachin Sawant. According to sources, Sawant is friends with the actress, who was questioned while tracing the proceeds of the crime.
After gathering the mobile data, chats, and statements of Sawant and other witnesses in the case, the investigation team discovered her involvement. According to sources, the ED also recorded her statement.
The investigation team looking into the case against Sachin Sawant discovered many assets connected to him, including movable property, a BMW automobile, and a FORD Endeavour SUV. The registrar and other sources have been contacted by the ED for information regarding properties that are thought to have been purchased by Sawant.
Sawant has also served as a Deputy Director for the ED Mumbai Zone 2 in the past. In the ongoing investigation, the agency is also keeping an eye on a few businesses and benami corporations.
In June, Sawant was detained in Lucknow, where he had been assigned to the position of Additional Commissioner of Customs and GST. Additionally, searches were done at his homes in Navi Mumbai and Lucknow as well as the homes of his relatives.
ED officials discovered that Sawant’s wife, who was unemployed, was also receiving a salary during the investigation. The family of the IRS officer, however, denied having any knowledge of benami assets or shell firms.
The ED in the case interviewed another female friend of Sawant, who provided information about the trail of criminal proceeds.
The Central Bureau of Investigation’s FIR, which claimed that Sawant had accumulated assets totaling Rs 2.45 crore that were out of proportion to his known sources of income, served as the basis for the ED case against him. The alleged assets exceeded Sachin Sawant’s known sources of income by 204%.
The agency claims that Sachin Sawant transferred Rs 1.25 crore into the bank accounts of his relatives as well as a fictitious business whose directors were his father and his brother-in-law.
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