The Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth around Rs 4 crore of a man who is accused of hiring contract killers to murder a Jamnagar-based lawyer.
Jayesh Ranpariya, the accused, fled to Dubai using a fake passport a week before the killing, according to police.
The ED had registered a money laundering case against Ranpariya in November 2016 on the basis of two FIRs registered by the Jamnagar police against him for alleged land grabbing
"The Ahmedabad zonal office of the ED has attached assets worth Rs 3.97 crore in the form of 24 properties and bank balance of Ranpariya and his associates in a case related to usurping of land in Jamnagar," the Central agency said in a statement today.
The FIRs had alleged that Ranpariya grabbed two properties worth Rs 135 crore by using a forged power of attorney.
"A number of FIRs of similar nature were registered against Ranpariya at various police stations. Using the same modus-operandi, Ranpariya has amassed many properties," the ED statement said.
In May, Ahmedabad Crime Branch arrested two men from Mumbai for the murder of senior lawyer Kirit Joshi. Joshi was stabbed to death by two motorbike-borne assailants in Jamnagar on the night of April 28.
The Crime Branch claimed that Jayesh Ranpariya had hired the duo to kill Joshi, who represented complainants in four or five cases of land-grabbing against Ranpariya.
Ranpariya fled to Dubai a week before the incident, police claimed. He is still absconding.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
