New Delhi: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Guwahati Zonal Office, has arrested Priyanshu Boiragi, proprietor of M/s Purbashree Printing House, Guwahati, in connection with a money laundering case involving alleged siphoning of labour welfare funds, the agency said on Saturday.

The arrest followed search operations conducted on December 18, 2025, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

Boiragi was produced before the Special Court (PMLA), Guwahati, which granted the ED five days of custody for further interrogation.

The investigation was initiated based on an FIR registered by the Chief Minister’s Special Vigilance Cell, Assam, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, which are scheduled offences under the PMLA.

According to the ED, Boiragi allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy with Chohan Doley, IAS, then Member Secretary of the Assam Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (ABOCWWB), Gautam Baruwa, then Chairman of the Board, and other officials.

The conspiracy was aimed at fraudulently siphoning off government funds collected as Labour Welfare Cess, a statutory levy generally amounting to one per cent of construction costs, meant exclusively for the welfare of registered construction workers.

The Labour Welfare Cess fund is intended to provide social security benefits such as accident and death assistance, medical aid, maternity benefits, pensions, educational support for workers’ children, and funeral assistance, considering the hazardous and insecure nature of construction work.

The ED alleged that funds meant for some of the poorest sections of society were diverted and laundered through fraudulent means.

During the financial years 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16, Boiragi was allegedly awarded printing contracts worth Rs 121.05 crore through staged, fake and forged tendering processes.

Of this, Rs118.55 crore was received by his firm from the ABOCWWB.

Investigators claim a large portion of the money was either converted into personal fixed deposits or routed through multiple shell entities in Delhi to obscure the trail of proceeds of crime.

During the searches, the ED seized incriminating documents, electronic devices and an Audi car.

Earlier, fixed deposits and bank balances worth Rs 34.03 crore were provisionally attached under the PMLA, with the attachment confirmed by the adjudicating authority.