Interpol issues 2 silver notices to trace assets of criminals on India’s request

The silver notice was started by Interpol in January this year and is the newest addition to its suite of colour-coded notices and diffusions

Updated on: May 27, 2025, 21:57:26 IST

By Neeraj Chauhan

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NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said on Tuesday that the Interpol has issued its first two silver notices against two individuals wanted by India, which will enable member countries to share alerts and requests for information on their assets.

The silver notice was started by Interpol in January this year and is the newest addition to the global police body’s suite of colour-coded notices and diffusions, which enable countries to share alerts and requests for information worldwide.

A CBI statement said 51 countries including India are taking part in the first phase of issuance of silver notices as a pilot project.

The silver notices enable member countries to request information on assets linked to a person’s criminal activities such as fraud, corruption, drug trafficking, environmental crime and other serious offences.

“It will facilitate locating, identifying, and obtaining information about laundered assets including properties, vehicles, financial accounts and businesses. Countries may subsequently use such information as a basis for bilateral engagement, including bilateral requests for seizure, confiscation or recovery of assets, subject to national laws,” the agency said in a statement.

India has already submitted requests for publication of silver notices in cases being investigated by the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

The first silver notice on India’s request was issued on May 23 against one Shokeen Shubham, a former personnel visas and local law officer, at an embassy of a foreign country in Delhi, in a visa fraud case.

“During the period from September 2019 to May 2022, Shokeen conspired with other accused persons and facilitated issuance of Schengen visa to the visa applicants by collecting illegal gratification ranging from ₹15,00,000 to ₹45,00,000 from each visa applicant,” the spokesperson said in the statement.

The accused, the agency said, acquired six immovable properties worth 7,760,500 Dirhams ( ₹15,73,51,250) in Dubai out of the proceeds of crime. Earlier, CBI also got a blue notice published against the same subject, which is used to collect additional information about a person’s identity, location or activities in relation to a crime.

The second silver notice was issued on May 26 against Amit Madanlal Lakhanpal on the request of the Enforcement Directorate.

Lakhanpal, CBI said, allegedly created digital cryptocurrency by the name of MTC which was not recognised in India for his financial gains. “He lured and induced the investors and collected funds of about ₹113.1 crore from them towards the investment in MTC. He did so without the prior requisite permission and license from the government or Reserve Bank of India in accordance with the law. Ultimately, he did not return the invested amount as promised by him at the time of collecting investments. He embezzled the said

collected funds and cheated the investors financially. To fortify his intentions to lure the people and to cheat them, he impersonated as the authorized representative of ministry of finance,” the CBI statement added.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neeraj Chauhan
Neeraj Chauhan is a senior journalist with Hindustan Times and an investigative reporter specialising in national security, terrorism, organised crime, narcotics, corruption, financial crime and complex investigations. With over 21 years of experience across Hindustan Times, The Times of India, The Indian Express and The Pioneer, he has built deep expertise in India’s internal security and law-enforcement landscape. Neeraj has extensively covered India’s principal investigative, intelligence and security agencies, including the NIA, CBI, ED, IB, R&AW, MHA and other central security forces. His work has included deeply reported investigations into terrorism, terror financing, cross-border crime, narcotics trafficking, cybercrime, financial fraud and political and corporate corruption. He has reported on some of the most significant terror attacks and security developments in India over the past two decades, including the Delhi serial blasts, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the 2019 Pulwama terror attack and the recent Pahalgam attack. His reporting has also chronicled the rise and decline of the Indian Mujahideen, the activities and subsequent crackdown on the Popular Front of India (PFI), Islamist extremist networks, the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, insurgencies in the Northeast and Maoist violence. Some of Neeraj’s major breaking stories are in Aryan Khan drug case, Sushant Singh Rajput suicide, interception of a 3,000-kg Afghan heroin consignment worth about ₹21,000 crore at Mundra port, Sri Lanka easter bombings, Aarushi-Hemraj murders in Noida, 2G scam, coal block allocation scam, AgustWestland VVIP chopper deal and major bank frauds and extradition cases involving Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya. His reporting is marked by an ability to cultivate sources, analyse confidential and complex documents, and follow investigations over several years—from the initial breakthrough to chargesheets, trials and international legal proceedings. He specialises in making complicated security and investigative developments accessible while examining their wider implications for governance and public policy. A Chevening South Asia Journalism Programme Fellow at the University of Westminster, Neeraj also spent time at the Financial Times as part of the fellowship. He was also a Robert Bosch Media Ambassadors India-Germany Fellow, studying at the University of Tübingen and working with Der Tagesspiegel in Berlin. He has previously taught investigative journalism and crime reporting as a guest faculty member at the Times School of Journalism. Over more than two decades, Neeraj has established himself as an authoritative voice on India’s national security and investigative landscape, with his reporting closely followed by officials, investigators, lawyers, policymakers and readers seeking insight into some of the country’s most complex and consequential developments.Read More

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