The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday (July 31, 2025) conducted its first-ever search operation in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands in connection with the Andaman Nicobar State Cooperative Bank (ANSCB) “fraud” case.
“Searches are being conducted at nine places in and around Port Blair and two places in Kolkata,” said an official.
During the searches in Port Blair, the agency has seized documents purportedly indicating large-scale irregularities in the grant of loans and overdraft facilities by ANSC Bank. The evidence collected so far shows that “loan facilities were extended to various shell companies/firms by ignoring the laid-down procedures and guidelines of the bank”.
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“Searches have also revealed that a group of around 15 entities/companies were created by suspects for the benefit of Kuldeep Rai Sharma, former MP of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and loan facilities amounting to more than ₹200 crore were fraudulently taken by these entities from the ANSC Bank,” as per the agency.
