The Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched fifteen locations in Delhi, Punjab, Maharashtra, and Haryana on Friday. The searches were related to the Rs 1,626 crore money laundering case that involves Pranav Gupta and Vineet Gupta's business entity Parabolic Drugs Pharma Ltd.

The Guptas resigned from their positions as co-founders of Ashoka University last year.

According to an ED source, agency personnel are conducting searches on properties connected to Parabolic drugs and its officials in Delhi, Ambala, Panchkula, Chandigarh, and Mumbai. Senior officials, though, kept quiet about the changes.

Based on an alleged Rs 1,626.74 crore fraud against Chandigarh-based Parabolic Drugs by a consortium headed by the Central Bank of India (CBI), the ED case is based on a CBI FIR.

Ashoka University co-founders Pranav and Vineet Gupta were among those who made reservations. Vineet is one of the company's directors, and Pranav Gupta is the managing director of Parabolic Drugs. 

The directors Deepali Gupta, Rama Gupta, Jagjit Singh Chahal, Sanjeev Kumar, Vandana Singla, Ishrat Gill, and the company's guarantors T.N. Goyal and Nirmal Bansal, as well as J.D. Gupta, have also been charged by the CBI.

In a statement released in January of last year, Ashoka University declared, "The University has over 200 founders and donors who have made personal philanthropic contributions to Ashoka. Their individual business dealings and operations have no connection to the University," in response to the CBI case and searches conducted at 12 sites against them.

"In keeping with the high standards for governance at Ashoka, Vineet and Pranav Gupta have already voluntarily stepped down from all Boards and Committees of the University pending the CBI case and are cooperating fully with the investigations," the statement added on January 6 of the previous year.

On December 31, 2021, the CBI searched the accused's offices and residential properties in 12 sites across Chandigarh, Panchkula, Ludhiana, Faridabad, and Delhi.

Incriminating documents, articles, and Rs 1.58 crore in cash were found by the CBI during the searches. The company was involved in the production of pharmaceuticals, according to CBI investigators. It allegedly used criminal conspiracy and forgery to deceive the consortium of banks, channelling the loans it obtained for other purposes.

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