Chandigarh, September 15
An investigation into instant loan app cheating-cum-extortion racket has revealed that many shell companies have been registered on fake addresses in the Delhi-NCR region. The police said the proceeds of crime were routed through several accounts, which had been traced to Delhi, Jodhpur, Bengaluru and Gujarat. Close to 25 such bank accounts have been identified. However, the police strongly believe that the number will go higher as the investigation progresses.
A total of 21 suspects, including Chinese national Wang Chengua, one Anshul Kumar and kingpin Parwej Alam, alias Jitu Bhadana, alias Sonu Bhadana, involved in the crime were arrested by the UT police last week. They used to lure people by offering them small loans and made them download various mobile applications named Hugo Loan, Cashfree, Fly Cash, Cash Coin and AA Loan through which they used to get access of their contacts. The victims were given small amount of loan and in return a larger sum was extorted from them after threatening them with sending their morphed pictures to their contacts. SP (Cyber Crime Investigation Cell) Ketan Bansal said cops physically verified the addresses of several shell companies, and these were found to be fake. Records showed that Anshul Kumar was director of two shell companies. These companies were created to cover the money trail of crime proceeds by layering.
The SP said the money received from the victims was transferred through several bank accounts in a bid to avoid getting traced or caught. Finally, the money was routed to China through these shell companies. “The suspects revealed that around Rs 100 crore was transferred through hawala in the past two years,” the SP said.
The investigation also revealed that the Chinese nationals, who had once worked in India, were acting as the handlers of kingpin Parwej. The police are now trying to identify the foreigners after which their travel history will be obtained from the Foreigners Registration Office (FRO) to establish when they had visited the country.
The police said the suspects arrested so far had worked with a Delhi-based company. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had in February this year cancelled the certificate of registration issued to the firm after it was found violating its directions. — TNS
Ill-gotten money routed to China
Money exacted from victims was transferred from one bank to another
Finally, the money was routed to China through shell companies
Around Rs 100 cr was transferred through hawala in the past two years
60 persons part of racket
Around 60 persons were part of the racket and were paid a total of Rs 11.31 lakh as monthly salary by Chinese national Wang Chengua.
