ED books couple for ₹170 crore fraud at United India Insurance

ED sources said that an ECIR has been registered against Khushal Singh and Neelam Singh under relevant sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate has registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) into the alleged siphoning of ₹170 crore from bank accounts of the United India Insurance Company by two of its employees.

The central agency is looking into the money laundering aspect of the offence. (FILE PHOTO)

ED sources said that an ECIR has been registered against Khushal Singh and Neelam Singh under relevant sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The central agency is looking into the money laundering aspect of the offence.

The ECIR is based on the Mumbai EOW’s case in which the two accused officials were arrested in June 2021. EOW had found that the accused couple had invested the ill-gotten money heavily in the real estate properties in North India.

The accused, Khushal Singh, was posted at the Churchgate office of the insurance company and was looking after accounting in the corporate cell. His wife Neelam Singh was an assistant manager in the company, which is a central government undertaking.

The investigation further revealed that the accused had booked 72 properties, including residential flats and commercial tenements, in real estate projects in Delhi, Gurgaon, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad and Jaipur, and paid approximately ₹100 crore for the same.

Police probe had also revealed that the accused had also invested the ill-gotten money in an online learning app. He had invested more than ₹7 crore in a firm for developing an online education mobile application as the business of such educational apps are flourishing these days, an EOW officer said.

The siphoning of funds came to light last year after the insurance company carried out a preliminary inquiry into the irregularities and it found that assistant manager Singh had diverted some funds from the company’s account to seven bank accounts held by him in a personal capacity.

Sources said that ED has also carried out searches at some places in Gurgaon in the case.