LUCKNOW, April 2 -- As part of its crackdown on high-value economic offences, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Lucknow zonal office, has secured an order from a special court declaring former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLC Haji Mohammed Iqbal alias Bala a fugitive economic offender (FEO) under the provisions of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 (FEOA).

The order, passed on Tuesday by the court of special judge Rahul Prakash, also directs the confiscation of three sugar mills linked to the accused, with an estimated combined value of nearly Rs.1,000 crore, senior ED officials said.

Haji Iqbal is the second person from Uttar Pradesh to be declared a fugitive economic offender, after Shine City Group promoter Rashid Naseem, who ...