The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted search and seizure operations at 13 premises across Tripura, West Bengal and Maharashtra in connection with an alleged fake government tender racket operated through a fictitious entity named the 'Directorate of Higher Education', the agency said on Thursday, November 5, IANS reported. The searches were carried out by the ED's Agartala Sub-Zonal Office on Wednesday under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, targeting individuals and entities allegedly linked to the racket.

Source: IANS via Hi India

The case arises from an FIR registered at Capital Complex Police Station in Agartala on the complaint of Nagpur-based M/s S.K. Sales Corporation against Abhishek Chandra, a Tripura cadre IAS officer, and co-conspirators, the ED said. The firm alleges it was fraudulently induced to pay earnest money deposits (EMDs) of around Rs 14.55 crore between September 2024 and February 2025 against purported Tripura government tenders in the mid-day meal and power sectors, which were never floated. The offences, registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections relating to criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating, cheating by personation and forgery, are scheduled offences under the PMLA, and the ED recorded an ECIR and began its money-laundering investigation, IANS reported.

Source: IANS via Hi India

Explaining the alleged method, the ED said Chandra, who is presently under suspension, represented himself as the officer controlling tender processes in the Tripura government and introduced the complainant to Utpal Kumar Chowdhury as the official responsible for processing payments. The EMDs were paid through demand drafts in favour of 'Directorate of Higher Education', which was in fact a proprietary concern of Chowdhury bearing a name deceptively similar to the genuine government department, according to the agency's statement reported by IANS and Traders Union.

Source: Traders Union (ED statement)

The ED is already investigating Chowdhury and others in a case arising out of five FIRs registered in West Bengal and Tripura, in which the same fictitious entity and method were allegedly used to defraud multiple victims of an aggregate amount exceeding Rs 44 crore; in that case, provisional attachment orders were issued on January 22, 2026 and July 31, 2026, IANS reported. The latest search proceedings covered the residential premises of Chandra and of hawala operators, and the office premises of several companies and entities connected to the money trail, the agency said.

Source: IANS via Hi India

What happens next: the ED's money-laundering investigation continues on the basis of the searches and the material seized. The allegations against the named individuals remain allegations stated by the agency and the complainant; no court has been reported to have ruled on them.

Source: Traders Union (ED statement)