Daijiworld Media Network - Guwahati
Guwahati, May 10: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Guwahati Zonal Office, has provisionally attached three immovable properties worth around Rs 65.60 lakh in a case linked to alleged disproportionate assets involving a Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) official and his wife, officials said on Saturday.
The action has been taken under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, against Hem Chandra Borah, Deputy Chief Engineer with NFR, and his wife Gayatree Saikia, a government school teacher at Bhaskar Bidyapith Higher Secondary School in Guwahati.
According to officials, the investigation originated from an FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Anti-Corruption Branch-I, New Delhi, under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The FIR alleged that Borah had acquired assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Gayatree Saikia was also named in the case under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Following the CBI probe, a chargesheet was filed before the competent court on March 25, 2025.
ED officials stated that their independent investigation, along with analysis of the CBI findings, indicated that during the check period from April 1, 2016 to January 17, 2021, the couple allegedly accumulated assets significantly exceeding their legitimate income.
The agency estimated the disproportionate assets at around Rs 73.76 lakh, which reportedly accounted for nearly 86.88% of their total known income during the period under review.
Investigators also alleged that the accused adopted a structured method to channel and conceal proceeds of crime. Despite operating seven bank accounts collectively, the couple’s recorded ATM and UPI withdrawals amounted to only Rs 1.36 lakh, suggesting limited use of banking channels for daily expenses.
Officials further claimed that alleged illicit cash was used for routine spending, while salary income was retained in bank accounts and later routed through cheque transactions for purchasing immovable properties, with an attempt to project them as legitimate assets.
The ED said further investigation into the case is currently in progress.