ED on hunt,UP govt shunts out top official,aide for Hasan links

The UP government today removed principal secretary Vijay Shankar Pandey following reports that he could be summoned by the Enforcement Directorate for his alleged links with Sheikh Hasan Ali

The UP government today removed principal secretary (information) Vijay Shankar Pandey following reports that he could be summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his alleged links with Sheikh Hasan Ali,the stud farm owner from Pune who is under probe for massive money laundering.

Ali,who was slapped with a notice for recovery of Rs 70,000 crore in income tax,is currently under detention and his role in alleged hawala racket and stashing funds abroad is being probed by the ED on Supreme Court orders.

IPS officer and DIG at police training headquarters,Jasbir Singh,said to

be a confidant of Pandey,has also been removed as the officer on special duty in the information department and has been sent to Regional Training Centre at Chunar in Mirzapur in the same capacity.

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States Cabinet Secretary Sashank Shekhar Singh announced the removal of both the officers at a press conference here today. News reports suggested that Vijay Shankar Pandey was in contact with Amlendu Pandey,also arrested by the ED,and could be summoned by the central investigation agency. I want to clarify that the UP government has absolutely nothing to do with the Hasan Ali case. The state government has no official information about the EDs ongoing investigation, Singh said.

If Pandey is summoned by the ED,it will strictly be his private affair and he alone would be accountable for that, said the cabinet secretary,adding the same applied to Jasbir Singh.

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