The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a case against former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and Bollywood actorAmitabh Bachchan for alleged money laundering.

The ED has also named Singh's wife Pankaja in its Enforcement Case Information Report. "Notices have been sent to Singh, his wife and Bachchan for a joint investigation into a Rs 400-crore money laundering case, " said a senior ED official on conditions of anonymity.

According to the ED report, in 2009, Singh, who was the then Uttar Pradesh Development Council chairman, invested in six fake companies and transferred money to 43 shell companies in Kolkata.

Bachchan is a major shareholder of all six companies, including Pankaja Arts & Credits and Sarvottam Caps, along with Singh and his wife.

The companies, with 23 corporate shareholders, were not involved in any active business and had considerable cross holdings amongst themselves.

According to the ED report, Bachchan, Singh and Pankaja were the ultimate beneficiaries, where the shares of the companies were subscribed at massive premiums of 600 to 1, 500 per cent of the face value of the shares at that time though they had no business activity and material income.

Bachchan used to be a close family friend of Singh till the politician's expulsion from the Samajwadi Party in 2010.

Pertinently, Bachchan's wife Jaya was brought into politics by Singh. But she refused to quit Samajwadi Party to protest Singh's expulsion, thereby souring the ties between the two families.

The Allahabad High Court on May 20 directed the ED to probe alleged Rs 400 crore-money laundering by Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh.

Singh was booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Money Laundering Act.