The Enforcement Directorate (ED) announced the provisional attachment of properties belonging to late Ved Prakash Srivastava, former Divisional Engineer of Western Railways, and his wife Vibha Srivastava under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The attached properties include two residential plots in Jabalpur district, Madhya Pradesh, along with 22 other immovable properties, fixed deposits, and bank balances amounting to over Rs 1.58 crore.
Following an investigation based on an FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Ved Prakash Srivastava, the then Divisional Engineer of Western Railways’ Rajkot Division, for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets through his official position, the ED took action. The probe revealed that unaccounted cash from corrupt activities was initially used for daily expenses outside the banking system, with a portion later deposited into numerous bank accounts under family members’ names to obscure the money trail.
The ED stated that these funds were subsequently converted into fixed deposits, investments, and used to purchase immovable properties, including residential plots, in the names of family members who lacked independent sources of income. In 2018, the CBI filed an FIR and conducted searches at Ved Prakash Srivastava’s residence in Jabalpur on suspicions of owning assets disproportionate to his known income sources.
Before his transfer to Rajkot in December 2017, Srivastava, a Jabalpur native, served as an executive engineer in Mumbai. The CBI had also implicated Ved Prakash Srivastava’s wife, Vibha Srivastava, as a co-accused, leading to the filing of a charge sheet before a special CBI court in Jabalpur in May 2023.
