MUMBAI, July 2 -- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted raids at 16 places, including the residences of architects and municipal engineers in the Vasai-Virar region, in connection with its money-laundering investigation into the construction of 41 unauthorised buildings in Vasai East. The raids were conducted weeks after the agency seized gold and cash worth Rs.32 crore from the residence of former Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) deputy director of town planning YS Reddy on May 14. The ED was investigating where Reddy got the unaccounted assets, which eventually led to Tuesday's raids, officials said. The ED suspects that financial transactions for granting building permissions were facilitated through architects, officials said, adding that the transactions were conducted in gold and not cash. Following the action against Reddy, many architects allegedly went abroad but returned recently, thinking the case would be resolved, an official said. Reddy was suspended by the VVCMC following the raid at his residence in May and will also face a departmental inquiry regarding his alleged connection with the construction of 41 illegal buildings on a 60-acre plot reserved for a sewage treatment plant and dumping ground. According to a complaint by former corporator Dhananjay Gawade, civic officials and Reddy were responsible for giving permissions to builders to construct on the land. The fraud involves civic officials, town planners, builders, and architects who allegedly used forged documents, fake building approvals, and manipulated land use classifications to construct and sell homes in the 41 buildings in Vasai East. The buildings were demolished by the municipal corporation earlier this year, leaving over 2,500 families homeless, after which the ED began its investigation. The ED has also interrogated former corporator Sitaram Gupta in connection with the fraud, with officials saying he is involved in large-scale illegal constructions in Vasai-Virar since 2009....