New Delhi | The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday conducted searches in multiple states as part of a money laundering investigation linked to "fraudulent" toll collection at various NHAI plazas, officials said.

They said about 14 premsies in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi-NCR and West Bengal were brought under the searches.

The action was launched under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act after the central agency took cognisance of two police FIRs.

The FIRs allege use of unauthorised software applications for generating toll receipts and "diversion" of toll collections outside the official accounting mechanism.

Forensic examination and National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) records have corroborated deployment of such software, ED officials said.

The searches aim at recovering digital and documentary evidence, identifying beneficiaries and tracing proceeds of crime, they said.