NEW DELHI: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Monday said it has carried out a search operation and frozen account balance of Rs 5.59 crore of Amir Khan and its accomplices in a fraud involving mobile gaming application E-Nuggets. The ED has taken the action under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The case was registered on the basis of FIR dated February 15, 2021, filed under various sections of IPC by Park Street Police Station, Kolkata, against Aamir Khan & others, based on complaint filed by Federal Bank authorities, in the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Calcutta, the ED said in a statement.
Aamir Khan, S/o Nesar Ahmed Khan launched a mobile gaming application, namely, E-Nuggets, which was designed for the purpose of defrauding public. Further, after collecting sizeable amount from the public, all of a sudden, withdrawal from the said app was stopped on one pretext or the other. Thereafter, all data including profile information was wiped off from the said app servers, the ED said.
It was revealed during the investigation that multiple accounts (more than 300) were used to launder the money. On the basis of information available, the amount of Rs 5.59 crore lying in balance in the related bank accounts has been frozen, the enforcement agency said.
Earlier, during the search operation conducted against Amir Khan, Rs 17.32 crore cash was found and seized from the residential premises; 85.91870554 Bitcoins equivalent to $1674255.7 (equivalent to Rs 13.56 crore approx. as per market exchange rate) found in balance in Binance Exchange was frozen; cryptocurrencies [WRX (utility token of WazirX) and USDT (Tether)] equivalent to Rs 47.64 lakh was frozen in Wazir X Accounts.
During investigations conducted under PMLA so far, an amount of Rs 36.96 crore has been seized/ frozen in total in this case. Further investigation is under progress, the ED said. (ANI)