ED Examining 'Land Acquisition' Complaint Against Kharge, Kin

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is examining a complaint against Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, his son and Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge and other family members that accuses them of illegally acquiring public land in the state to see if there is a money laundering angle in the allegations, people familiar with the matter said.

- Neeraj Chauhan

NEW DELHI:

ED is not formally investigating the matter as it cannot register an ECIR or Enforcement Case Information Report (equivalent of first information report) until the Karnataka Lokayukta, the state anti-corruption ombudsman files a case. A senior officer who asked not to be named said "we are only examining the issue to figure out if it has any Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) angle whenever an FIR is filed by the predicate agency". A Lokayukta official who also asked not to be named, clarified that, "no FIR has been registered yet".

HT reached out to Priyank Kharge but did not receive any response to a request for comment.