New Delhi, Aug 22 (IANS) Mohali-based builder Rajdeep Sharma was arrested by the ED under the PMLA Act in the Birfa IT case related to illegal foreign remittance worth Rs 4,817 crore, an official said on Friday. He was remanded to ED custody till August 28.

The accused, taken into custody by the Headquarters Office of ED, was linked to illegal transactions against bogus and forged invoices for making compensatory payments for under-invoiced imports made from China and Hong Kong, the ED said in a statement.

Sharma was produced before the Special Court, Dwarka, which has remanded the accused to 7-day ED custody till August 28, the statement said.

Earlier, accused Manideep Mago, Sanjay Sethi, Mayank Dang, Tushar Dang, and Jaspreet Singh Bagga have been arrested by the ED in this case.

The ED initiated an investigation into the financial affairs of Birfa IT based on the information that this entity had sold a huge amount of crypto assets and encashed Rs 1,858 crore from an Indian crypto-exchange.

Enquiries revealed that it had not bought any crypto assets in India. Such a situation indicated a dangerous scenario of International Hawala using crypto transactions.

A search under FEMA conducted in this case revealed evidence that Manideep Mago has been making illegal foreign remittances using fake and forged documents.

On the basis of findings unearthed during the search, a complaint was made by the ED to the Crime Branch, Delhi and an FIR under various sections of IPC,1860 was registered. Since the FIR contained scheduled offences, the case was taken up for detailed investigation under PMLA by the ED.

The case involves illegal sending of Foreign Remittances worth Rs 4,817 crore against bogus and forged invoices for making compensatory payments for under-invoiced imports made from China and Hong Kong, the statement said.

Jaspreet Singh Bagga is in the business of opticals and is a close associate of Sanjay Sethi and Mayank Dang and is a key member of the syndicate involved in under-invoiced imports and sending compensatory payments through hawala channels, the ED said.

His shop was an epicentre of cash collection and acted as a hub for unaccounted cash collection from numerous importers. He used to carry daily cash collection to his home at Kirti Nagar, which was further collected by cash handlers of Manideep Mago and was eventually remitted illegally abroad through companies of Manideep Mago and Sanjay Sethi using fake and forged invoices, the ED said.

–IANS

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