Accused had obtained identity documents of various persons, prepared rent agreements in their names, forged the signatures of shop owners in such agreements, misused the identity documents for obtaining license for dummy firms and opened dummy bank accounts with various banks.
FinTech BizNews Service
Mumbai, 23 November, 2024: Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Surat Sub-Zonal Office has provisionally attached movable assets having value of Rs. 1.84 Crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in a case of illegal betting activities against Harish alias Kamlesh Jariwala & Ors. The attached properties are in the name of Rajesh Lakhani, proprietor of M/s. Maitri Enterprises and M/s. VC Metals Pvt. Ltd, as per the press release issued by the ED.
ED initiated investigation on the basis of FIR registered by DCB, Surat, wherein it was alleged that the accused Harish alias Kamlesh Jariwala had entered into a criminal conspiracy with Rushikesh Adhikar Shinde and Huzefa Kausar Masakarwala and had obtained identity documents of various persons, prepared rent agreements in their names, forged the signatures of shop owners in such agreements, misused the identity documents for obtaining license for dummy firms and opened dummy bank accounts with various banks.
ED investigation revealed that these dummy accounts were used for the purpose of transferring the funds obtained from illegal betting apps CBTF247.com and T20 EXCHANGE.com. During investigations, Proceeds of Crime (POC) i.e. the money generated through these betting apps were traced and it has been found that these dummy bank accounts in the names of various fictitious entities have been opened for routing and layering of money generated from betting and other criminal activities.
It was further revealed from the investigation that Rajesh Lakhani proprietor of M/s. Maitri Enterprises and M/s. VC Metals Pvt. Ltd had received POC from these dummy bank accounts. Earlier, in this case, searches were conducted and balance available in 92 bank accounts to the tune of Rs. 5.67 Crore were already frozen and seized. A Prosecution Complaint in this regard had already been filed before the Hon’ble Court (PMLA), Ahmedabad on 25.10.2024. Further investigation is under progress.
