Four years after Nagpur city police registered a case over illegal transportation of sand using fake royalty papers or Electronic Transit Pass (ETP), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) stepped in and carried out raids at 12 locations across Nagpur district on Friday morning. The ED conducted simultaneous raids at 12 locations in Saoner, Rampuri, Patansawangi, Gosewadi and Khapa starting around 5 am. Teams from Nagpur, with support from officials from Mumbai and Delhi, took part in the operation. Central security forces accompanied the ED officials during the searches. In Saoner town, the premises of Praful Kapse,

 

Uttam Kapse, Dadu alis Ravindra Kolte, Laxmikant Satpute and Vinod Gupta were searched. Raids were also conducted at the houses of Praful Kapse and Uttam Kapse in Rampuri village. In Patansawangi, ED teams searched locations linked to Narendra Pimpal, Sharad Rai and Manoj Gaikwad. The agency also searched the premises of Guddu Khorgade in Gosewadi village and Amit Rai in Khapa village. Officials reached the locations early in the morning and carried out detailed checks of houses and offices.

 

The ED has not officially shared details of seizures, if any, and maintained silence on the findings. Case registered by Nagpur Police in 2022 The case dates back to January 19, 2022, when Nagpur City police registered an FIR at Sadar Police Station under Sections 420, 465, 466, 467, 468, 471 and 34 of the IPC. The case related to cheating, forgery and use of fake documents for illegal sand transportation. During the initial investigation, the Crime Branch arrested Rahul Khanna from Bhopal based on information received from a local informer.

 

How racket operated The complainant in the case, Santosh Baburao Gaikwad (33), a resident of Friends Colony, had explained the modus operandi to the police. Gaikwad told investigators that he had paid Rs 9,900 to Rahul Khanna through UPI to obtain royalty papers and transport permits for sand excavated from a sand ghat in Narsinghpur district of Madhya Pradesh. As per the complaint, Khanna prepared the required documents and sent them to Gaikwad through WhatsApp. These papers were then used to transport illegally excavated sand without raising suspicion. Bhopal-based Khanna named kingpin Police investigation revealed that Rahul Khanna was the kingpin of the racket. Sand smugglers based in Nagpur were illegally excavating sand locally but using fake royalty papers or Electronic Transit Passes (ETPs) generated by Khanna to move the sand.

 

Investigators also found that sand mafias from Wardha, Yavatmal, Bhandara and Chandrapur were in contact with Khanna, indicating the wide reach of the network. ED probing money trail A senior police officer said, “Based on our investigation in 2022, cases were registered for illegal sand transportation and royalty evasion. The ED is now probing the money laundering angle linked to these offences.” Sources in the ED said the agency was mainly looking for documents related to ETPs and financial records during the searches.