ED registers case against its own officer nabbed by CBI for ₹20L bribe

ED officer Sandeep Singh arrested for allegedly extorting ₹20 lakh, suspended by ED, facing money laundering case; part of probe into app-based investment fraud.

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday registered a money laundering case against its Delhi unit official, assistant director Sandeep Singh, who was arrested in Delhi by the CBI’s Mumbai anti-corruption branch, allegedly for demanding and obtaining a bribe of ₹20 lakh from a jeweller. The ED has suspended Singh and taken steps for his repatriation to his parent cadre.

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Singh had allegedly demanded bribe from the complainant, jeweller Vipul Thakkar of VS Gold, while conducting a search at the complainant’s Mumbai premises on August 4. He had allegedly posed as the investigating officer of an ED money-laundering case probe into an alleged investment fraud involving the apps - Power Bank, Tesla Power Bank and Ezplan. “He had conducted a search merely as the Search Warrant Authorized Officer,” ED sources said. Thakkar’s V S Gold was suspected to be part of the money-laundering aspect of the case due to which the search was carried out.

HT had on Wednesday reported about ED’s probe into the app-based investment fraud, wherein it froze bank balances of ₹8.5 crore and seized cash of ₹12.5 lakh during searches at various locations in Mumbai and three other cities.

The ED probe revealed that a few Chinese nationals had allegedly incorporated some shell firms in India with the help of Indian professionals, to float investment-scheme apps on digital platforms, offering lucrative returns to dupe gullible investors.

“Sandeep Singh, assistant director, ED, was trapped by CBI Mumbai in New Delhi along with ₹20 lakh cash which he had allegedly extorted from an individual under investigation by ED to favour him in the case. Taking immediate cognisance of this incident and following the policy of zero tolerance towards corruption, ED has initiated criminal action against Singh under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act,” an ED source said. “An Enforcement Case Infirmation Report has been registered against him and a search operation was conducted at his residence on Thursday to gather evidence of his criminal activities. His office was jointly searched by CBI and ED.”

ED has also placed Singh under immediate suspension and has taken steps for his repatriation to his parent department, the source said. He was arrested in Delhi ‘s Lajpat Nagar and will be produced before a Mumbai court on Friday by the CBI.

ACCUSED ENTITIES RAN BUSINESS IN THE NAME OF GAMING, E- COMMERCE

ED ‘s probe in the Chinese-controlled fraudulent investment apps case is based upon multiple cases registered in Delhi, Uttarakhand and Karnataka’s Bangalore. The probe has revealed that the accused entities had registered themselves as payment aggregators, who were running business in the category of gaming, social-networking and e-commerce. They had induced people to invest money through investment schemes run in the name of Powerbank/Sunfactory app by assuring them huge rate of interest, up to 18 per cent, to be paid on a daily and weekly basis, ED sources said.

A probe by Karnataka police had revealed that 13 accused entities had collected nearly ₹342 crore from the public within a span of three months, between March 2021 to May 2021.

The accused entities neither paid interest nor returned the principal amount to the investors and closed their purported business after collecting huge sums of money from the gullible people and went incommunicado, ED sources said.

In earlier searches of ED, it had come to light that the accused/suspects had allegedly diverted huge funds abroad, camouflaging these as proceeds from bogus imports and logistic services. Agency sources said currencies and valuables worth ₹10.34 crore were seized and bank accounts having balances of ₹14.81 crore were frozen. ED has so far submitted two provisional attachment orders – one in February 2022 and the other in October 2023 - attaching properties and bank accounts’ worth ₹64.36 crore. Three persons were arrested in the case and a chargesheet was submitted against the accused persons in April 2023 in a trial court.