ED arrests absconding accused in Jharkhand ponzi fraud case


PTI | New Delhi | Updated: 21-06-2021 14:56 IST | Created: 21-06-2021 14:23 IST
ED arrests absconding accused in Jharkhand ponzi fraud case
Representative Image Image Credit: ANI
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An alleged Jharkhand ponzi case fraud accused has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from West Bengal under the anti-money laundering law, the central agency said on Monday.

Hemant Kumar Sinha was arrested on June 19 from Howrah and later produced before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Jharkhand's capital Ranchi that sent him to judicial custody till June 29, it said in a statement issued here.

Sinha, it said, is an accused in an alleged ponzi or chit fund fraud case that took place in Jharkhand sometime back and the ED had filed a charge sheet against him and others in March last year after it conducted a probe.

The accused was ''absconding'' and was avoiding his appearance before the court, following which the court had issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against him, the ED said.

The money laundering case against Sinha, a firm linked to him, M.S.S. Ayurvedic Healthcare Trust, other accused Rakesh Kumar Poddar and Mukesh Kumar Poddar was registered after the ED studied charge sheets filed against them by the Jharkhand Police, it said.

''The accused persons were running a ponzi scheme wherein they collected Rs 3,000 from each individual on the pretext of returning four times of the said amount within three months,'' the ED alleged. ''For assurance, they used to give four post-dated cheques of Rs 2,300 each and four coupons of Rs 700 for ayurvedic medicines and treatment at M.S.S & Health Care Ayurvedic Trust,'' it alleged.

The probe found that ''proceeds of crime'' of Rs 10 crore was ''siphoned off'' by the trust.

An amount of Rs 2.28 crore that was kept in bank accounts was also attached by the ED in the past during this investigation, it said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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