Overview

• The Enforcement Directorate carried out its first-ever Prevention of Money Laundering Act search in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, targeting nine sites in Port Blair and two in Kolkata.
• Investigators seized documents showing large-scale breaches of ANSCB’s loan and overdraft approval guidelines in favor of shell companies.
• The probe alleges around 15 entities secured fraudulent loans exceeding ₹200 crore, with substantial amounts withdrawn in cash.
• Former ANSCB vice chairman and ex-MP Kuldeep Rai Sharma is identified as a principal beneficiary of the illicit funding network.
• Initiated on the basis of a Crime and Economic Offences Wing FIR, the investigation remains active with asset freezes, summonses and potential arrests planned.