Chandigarh, Feb 12 (IANS) Immovable properties of Rs 4.50 crore and cash amounting to Rs 1.70 crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in a cheating case were, seized, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Thursday.

The ED initiated investigation on the basis of a first information report (FIR) registered by the Haryana Police against Vikas Kalra and others.

The FIR was registered by the predicate agency on the basis of complaint by various investors. During investigation, it is revealed that there are multiple FIRs registered in this matter by police authorities.

Investigation has revealed that Vikas Kalra, Tarun Taneja and others in connivance with each other floated a fictitious and non-existent entity in the name of Crypto World Trading Company for attracting investments from innocent public with allurement of exorbitant returns.

They allegedly cheated thousands of investors using a website of the entity, created their user IDs and paid the returns in the form of credit points which could only be redeemed through adding new investors.

The investments worth crores of rupees were mainly received by the suspects in cash, bank accounts and crypto wallets, said the ED.

It scrutinized multiple bank accounts of suspected people and their family members which revealed that proceeds of crime have been laundered through various bank accounts, crypto wallets and finally invested in the immovable properties held in the name of their family members.

The proceeds of crime generated in cash have also been utilised in purchasing these immovable properties.

The ED in December last conducted searches at multiple locations in Haryana and Chandigarh in connection with the case where some accused opened funds receiving accounts on global crypto currency exchange Binance and “cheated” investors by operating a “fraud” online platform.

The investigations had revealed that the amount was taken from the victims in cash and were being mostly defrauded through parties in the name of the rising digital currency market homonymous name like “cryptocurrency”.

The victims, mainly from Haryana, were also lured for more profit, if more investors were added, just like the infamous “chain system”.

–IANS

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