A special court in Patna on Sunday sent Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Subhash Prasad Yadav, a close associate of party chief Lalu Prasad, to 14 days in judicial custody in connection with a money laundering case registered by Enforcement Directorate (ED).

ED arrested Subhash on Saturday night from his Danapur residence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after conducting raids in several locations across the state. He was produced before a special PMLA court, which remanded him to 14 days in judicial custody at Beur central jail in Patna.

According to ED officials familiar with the matter, the central agency is set to move a petition in the PMLA court on Monday to take Yadav into remand for further interrogation.

The case pertains to tax evasion worth crores and irregularities in sandmining through Broadson Commodities Pvt Ltd, of which Yadav is a director, the people cited above said.

ED’s official familiar with the matter told HT that the central agency conducted raids at least eight locations linked to Yadav and his relatives in connection with the sandmining case.

During the raids that went on throughout Saturday, ED recovered ₹2.3 crore in cash and several documents related to illegal properties and investments, the people cited above said.

This raid comes a day after Income Tax officials raided premises linked with another RJD leader and member of legislative council (MLC) Vinod Jaiswal in another case of tax evasion.

Subhash Yadav, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Chatra in Jharkhand, considered close to Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav and other members of RJD top family. According to family members who asked not to be identified, Subhash Yadav said to be preparing fight parliamentary election from Koderma in Jharkhand.

He is one of the directors of Broadson Commodities Pvt Ltd and Banshidhar Construction Pvt Ltd, while his wife Lalti Devi is the director of Radha Raman Construction and Marketing Pvt Ltd. All such firms are directly or indirectly involved in sand mining.

Yadav’s business parner and another director of Broadson Commodities, Radha Charan, was arrested by ED on September 13, 2023, and forwarded to judicial custody in the same case.

ED official said that Broadson Commodities had on June 13, 2017, purchased three flats on a single day in Maa Marichia Devi complex for ₹1.72 crore. Of the 18 flats in the complex, which is named after Lalu Prasad’s mother, nine are owned by former Bihar CM Rabri Devi.

Officials familiar with the matter said that raids were conducted in connection to probe alleged illegal wealth amassed from sandmining and laundering black money by purchasing properties across the country.

The three firms owned by Subhash were given licences by the Grand Alliance government of RJD, JD(U) and Congress to mine sand in a stretch worth ₹237 crore in Patna, Bhojpur, Saran, Vaishali, Jehanabad and Arwal districts in between March 2016 and July 2017, according to ED officials familiar with the matter.

The search by ED has been underway in Maner, Shahpur, Gola Raod, Nasriganj, Nariyalghat, Yaduvanshi Nagar, Boring Road and nearby areas since morning. A large number of security personnel have been deployed to the locations where raids are underway.

The Bihar Police has filed 14 FIRs against, Broadson Commodities and others under various sections of IPC and Bihar Mineral (Concession, Prevention of Illegal Mining, Transportation and Storage) Rule, 2019; these FIRs form the basis for the money laundering case. Earlier, the IT department had conducted raids at Yadav’s premises in connection with a tax evasion case in 2018.

No immediate statement was released by Broadson Commodities Ltd or other related firms.

RJD alleged that the raids were conducted out of political vendetta. “The ruling BJP at the Centre had lost trust in its own leaders and workers,” said RJD spokesman Rishi Mishra.