Lucknow, Feb 23 (IANS): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday was raiding multiple locations linked to former MLA and Samajwadi Party leader Vinay Shankar Tiwari in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Haryana.

The raids, which began on Friday, were linked to an alleged Rs 750 crore bank loan fraud and money laundering probe against a company involved in road construction and toll plazas. The company was promoted by Tiwari, official sources said.

"Action is directed against Gangotri Enterprises and its main promoters Vinay Shankar Tiwari, Rita Tiwari and Ajeet Pandey," said the sources.

They are accused of an alleged bank loan fraud of about Rs 750 crore between 2012 and 2016 against a consortium of banks led by the Bank of India, sources said.

About ten premises in Lucknow, Gorakhpur and Noida in Uttar Pradesh, Ahmedabad (Gujarat) and Gurugram (Haryana) were being searched by the ED officials.

Gangotri Enterprises is a company that undertakes construction of roads, operates toll plazas and other government contracts.

The agency had attached assets worth about Rs 72 crore of the company in this case in November, 2023.

Vinay Shankar Tiwari is the son of late former minister and strongman from Gorakhpur, late Hari Shankar Tiwari.

He represented his father’s Assembly constituency of Chillupar in Gorakhpur after he was elected on a BSP ticket. He later joined the Samajwadi Party but lost the 2022 Assembly polls.