The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized “unexplained cash” amounting to Rs 2.54 crore during searches in various cities across the country in a case of alleged violation of the foreign exchange law. The probe agency has also recovered the portion of “unexplained cash” hidden inside a washing machine during the raids.

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The agency said it has also freezed 47 bank accounts in the case. The agency said it conducted searches under the provisions of FEMA,1999 at the premises of Capricornian Shipping & Logistics Pvt Ltd and its directors Vijay Kumar Shukla and Sanjay Goswami and associated entities.

The searches it said were also conducted at Laxmiton Maritime, Hindustan International, Rajnandini Metals Limited, Stawart Alloys India Pvt Ltd, Bhagyanagar Limited, Vinayak Steels Limited, Vashishta Constructions Pvt Ltd; and their directors/partners Sandeep Garg, Vinod Kedia.

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ED said the searches were also conducted at various locations in Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kurukshetra and Kolkata.

The action ED said was undertaken based on "credible information" that the entities were involved in sending foreign exchange outside India "on a large-scale", reported NDTV.

It said they made "suspicious" outward remittances amounting to Rs 1,800 crore to Singapore's Galaxy Shipping and Logistics and Horizon Shipping and Logistics.

“Both these overseas entities are managed by a person named Anthony De Silva. Capricornian Shipping and Logistics, Laxmiton Maritime, and their associates made outward remittances to the tune of Rs 1,800 crore to the Singapore-based entities under the guise of bogus freight services and imports,” the report said.

“During the searches, various incriminating documents, digital devices and unexplained cash…seized,” it added.