E-Paper
Gaming app case: Bitcoins worth ₹27 crore frozen by ED and Kolkata Police
Kolkata: Crypto currency worth ₹12
Kolkata: Crypto currency worth ₹12.83 crore was frozen on Wednesday by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as part of its money laundering probe pertaining to an online gaming app that is alleged to have duped a large number of people, officials familiar with the development said.
On Tuesday, the Kolkata police in a parallel probe against the city-based promoter of the mobile gaming app, E-Nuggets, froze bitcoins worth ₹14.53 crore.
Crypto currency worth 77.62710139 bitcoins belonging to a person named Amir Khan, who owns a mobile gaming application called E-Nuggets, has been frozen, a senior official of the federal agency said.
ED launched a probe under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on a first information report (FIR) registered in this regard at Kolkata’s Park Street police station in February 2021. The FIR was on the basis of a complaint filed by a private bank.
The accused, Amir Khan, was arrested by the detective department of the Kolkata Police from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh on September 23.
The developments come weeks after ED raided the premises of Khan in Kolkata and seized ₹17.32 crore cash from there on September 10.
ED said that Amir Khan had designed the app with an aim to “defraud” people. “During the initial period, the users were rewarded with commission and the balance in the wallet could be withdrawn hassle-free. This provided initial confidence among users, and they started investing bigger amounts for greater percentage of commission and a greater number of purchase orders,” ED said in a statement.
“After collecting a sizable amount of money from the public, all of a sudden withdrawal from the app was stopped on one pretext or the other. Thereafter, all data including profile information was wiped off from the said app servers,” it added.
Crypto currency is currently not regulated in India. The Union government is awaiting an internationally acceptable solution to track and curb clandestine “wallet-to-wallet” transfers of crypto currency while banning it in India.
After ED recovered the cash from Khan’s house, the Kolkata police in a parallel probe found that he had invested the proceeds of the profit, made by duping people through the gaming app, into crypto currency.
Officials said even though Khan had more than 140 accounts that were opened primarily using fake KYC, he had used five of his accounts to invest in crypto currency.
“Initially he had invested in bitcoins through a Mumbai-based company. Later he opted for a Chinese company to invest in crypto currencies. This took place between 2020 and 2021,” said an official.
Even though police are yet to ascertain the total amount Khan had duped people through his gaming app, but they estimate it could be over ₹50 crore.
