India, May 17 -- The Enforcement Directorate (ED), during a search, seized Rs.44 lakh in cash from a metal cupboard lying concealed behind a wooden door in a Nalasopara (East) residence. The searches, conducted on Wednesday and Thursday, were at 13 locations in Vasai, Virar and Hyderabad in Telangana, and were related to the ED's money-laundering probe into the construction of 41 illegal buildings in Vasai East on a 60-acre plot earmarked for public projects.

The cash was seized from the house of a former corporator, an alleged perpetrator of the illegal constructions, according to the ED. The ED team, on suspicion, decided to check the wooden door at his house, and upon its removal, found the standard-size metal cupboard concealed behin...