Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Amarendra Dhari Singh has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a probe of money laundering case linked to an alleged fertiliser scam. Singh, a Rajya Sabha member from Bihar has been arrested by the probing agency in Delhi on late Wednesday night under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
A medical test of Singh was conducted after his arrest and he is being interrogated by the ED officials.
The case pertains to an alleged fertiliser scam linked to the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) – a multi-state farmers’ cooperative and India Potash Limited (IPL) – a company of IFFCO which supplies fertilisers at government subsidies.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered a corruption case last month. According to the CBI, both IFFCO and IPL officials had imported fertilisers at highly inflated rates from 2007 to 2014 in order to claim for higher subsidies. Based on the case registered by CBI, the ED is taking further actions. ED had conducted raids at about 12 places including Delhi, Mumbai and Haryana.
Amarendra Dhari Singh was sent to Rajya Sabha from Bihar by RJD for the first time in 2020. Well-known businessman, Singh is considered very close to former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Yadav’s family. Late Congress leader Ahmed Patel was also very close to Singh.
Singh is stated to be the senior vice president of Jyoti Trading Corporation, a firm involved in the fertiliser scam case. The RJD MP has been in the business of export and import of fertilisers since the 90s. He imports fertilizers for private companies and exports them to the Middle-East and other countries. Apart from the fertiliser business, he also deals in real estate.
Singh is a resident of Bikram, a town and an assembly constituency in Paliganj subdivision of Patna district in Bihar. Singh comes from a landlord family in Ainkhan village of Patna district.
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