Photo Courtesy: nenow
Imphal: The Enforcement Directorate seized Rs 1.99 crore in immovable properties across Manipur. The assets include residential buildings and homestead land in the Kangpokpi and Imphal East districts. The agency acted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. They targeted properties held by former Customs and Central Excise inspector Seikholen Kipgen and his wife, Vahneithem Lucy Kipgen.
Trouble started with a CBI corruption case. The Central Bureau of Investigation’s Anti-Corruption Branch in Imphal filed an FIR against Kipgen. Investigators allege he built a fortune far beyond his legal pay between January 1, 2015, and December 3, 2021. A formal chargesheet landed in a Special Court on December 22, 2022.
Kipgen played a shell game with his cash. He allegedly funneled money through his father-in-law to mask the source. The agency claims, "the said funds, so layered and routed, were utilised for the purchase of land in the name of his wife and the construction of the residential building thereon." These transactions were disguised as gifts. Officials found the father-in-law had no independent financial capacity to fund such gifts. The probe continues.
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