ED Cracks Down on Environmental Crime, Attaches Assets Worth Nearly ₹80 Crore
(By Syed Ali Taher Abedi)
Jalandhar, 15, December,2025- The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Jalandhar Zonal Office, has provisionally attached immovable properties—comprising land, buildings, and plant and machinery—valued at ₹79.93 crore and belonging to M/s Malbros International Pvt. Ltd., in connection with a money-laundering investigation linked to environmental crime. The attachment, carried out on December 13, 2025, has been made under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
The Enforcement Directorate, acting upon a criminal complaint duly instituted by the Punjab Pollution Control Board, has set in motion an investigation against M/s Malbros International Pvt. Ltd. The complaint alleges contravention of statutory mandates enshrined in the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, by reason of the company’s purported act of injecting untreated effluents, through reverse boring, into subterranean aquifers, thereby imperiling the sanctity of the environment and public health.
ED investigation revealed that M/s Malbros International Pvt Ltd (with its industrial unit at village Mansoorwal, Tehsil Zira, Dist. Ferozepur) was involved in generation and acquisition of Proceeds of Crime by deliberately causing pollution of ground water by persistently and covertly injecting untreated effluents into deep aquifers through reverse boring, and repeatedly discharging wastewater onto land, drains, and an adjacent sugar mill.
Its daily functioning involved persistent illegal discharge of untreated effluents into land and groundwater, causing large‑scale irreparable ecological damage in form of water pollution and consequent health hazards causing crop loss, cattle deaths and serious health impacts for residents of villages around its premises.
Earlier, searches were conducted at six locations on 16.07.2024 and an amount of Rs. 78.15 Lakh cash was seized from the premises of M/s Malbros International Pvt Ltd and its Directors under the provisions of Section 17 PMLA, 2002. Further investigation is under progress.
