New Delhi, Nov 22 (IANS): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said that it carried out searches at various locations in Hyderabad in a money laundering case being against Syed Burhanuddin.

The searches were carried out under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at various locations.

The ED registered a case on the basis ofFIR registered by the Hyderabad Police on the basis of complaint which alleged that Syed Burhanuddin, through his associate Venkatraman Yadav, had filed a complaint before the ED against a person alleging his involvement in money laundering, hawala and other illegal activities.

The FIR further alleged that Burhanuddin forged and fabricated the documents using fake ED stamp and also showed purported acknowledgement, evidencing receipt of the complaint by ED.

The FIR also alleged that Burhanuddin threatened the complainant with dire consequences and also offered to help him by settling his case for a monetary consideration of Rs 10 crore by falsely projecting his closeness with officers of ED and also his association with the PMO.

The ED said that its probe revealed that several other FIRs were registered against Burhanuddin containing similar allegations involving similar modus operandi of approaching people with bogus offers to settle their cases by falsely projecting his association with high ranking officers of various organizations.

Search operations resulted in the recovery and seizure of digital devices and incriminating documents including property documents, documents showing his association with various entities including overseas entities and documents indicating unaccounted property transactions, the ED added.