On Friday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out concurrent searches at locations associated with Deepak Gupta in relation to its money laundering investigation into the Uliburu mining fraud in the Keonjhar area.
According to sources, searches were carried out in Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Rourkela, and Barbil. The issue concerns the Uliburu mines region in the Joda mining circle, where the state mines department allegedly discovered widespread violations. In 2013, Vigilance filed a report and took Gupta into custody.
He was accused of raising ore from the reserve forest area next to the mines by moving the lease border. He had the power of attorney for the Uliburu mines.
It is believed that he made around Rs 800 crore from the illicit mining operations.