City Limouzine Investment finance fraud

 LUDHIANA: Enforcement Directorate’s zonal office Chandigarh has arrested one person in connection with a Rs 50 crore Ponzi scheme scam run by a Hisar-based company that looted thousands of investors across India.

The accused is alleged to have siphoned off the funds from the accounts of the company to purchase properties.

The accused is alleged to have siphoned off the funds from the accounts of the company to purchase properties, jewellery, and shares of high-net-worth shell companies. After being arrested he has produced in a court which has remanded him into ED’s custody for five days.

According to a statement released by ED headquarters New Delhi, "ED has arrested Pranjil Batra under the Prevention of Money-laundering Act (PMLA) 2002 on March 10th, 2022 in the case of Hisar based company namely M/s Future Makers Life Care Private Limited and Others related to cheating of thousands of depositors through various Ponzi schemes in many parts of the country. ED initiated its investigation by recording a Money-laundering case on the basis of various FIRs registered in the state of Haryana and Telangana. Ponzi schemes run by the group were based on a pyramidal structure where the persons at the top of the pyramid gained at the behest of the loss borne by the persons at base of the pyramid”

The statement also said, "Pranjil Batra, who looked after software of the company, siphoned off funds over Rs. 50 crore from the accounts of Future Makers Group by creating faking IDs and using bank accounts of his family members, close associates, and shell companies. He used the siphoned-off funds, which are proceeds of crime, in the purchase of properties, jewellery, and shares of high-net-worth shell companies. He sold some of the immovable properties acquired from proceeds of crime to the entities controlled by him to project them untainted. During the investigation, Pranjil Batra was non-cooperative and resorted to withholding of relevant information and misleading the investigation. He was arrested on March 10th under PMLA, 2002. He was produced before Hon’ble Special Court, Haryana on March 11th, 2022 and has been remanded in ED custody for 5 days , further investigation is in progress”

 Synopsis

Claiming that Ramkrishna was involved in "various malpractices", the agency told the court that it was investigating these trips to examine whether they had gained any pecuniary advantage. It also said Subramanian had impersonated as the so-called Himalayan yogi and influenced the decisions of Ramkrishna at the NSE.

Earlier this week, the CBI told the court that it had constituted a special investigation team comprising nearly 30 officials, including senior officers, to investigate the alleged stock market manipulation case.

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday told a local court that former National Stock Exchange chief executive Chitra Ramkrishna and her then adviser Anand Subramanian together travelled to several tax havens including the Seychelles and Mauritius during their tenure at the bourse.

Claiming that Ramkrishna was involved in "various malpractices", the agency told the court that it was investigating these trips to examine whether they had gained any pecuniary advantage. It also said Subramanian had impersonated as the so-called Himalayan yogi and influenced the decisions of Ramkrishna at the NSE.

According to the CBI, Subramanian thought that he would operate as the Himalayan yogi for four years and no one would find out.

probe-on

There is evidence that establishes that Subramanian had created the email ID rigyajursama@outlook.com, where Ramkrishna had sent confidential company information, the CBI told the court.

It alleged that in a bid to destroy evidence, Subramanian deleted some of the crucial emails. The agency claims to have recovered 832 GB of data. The CBI also informed the court that it had written to Microsoft to retrieve deleted emails and data.

This was submitted by the agency on Friday while opposing the bail plea of Subramanian, who is currently in Delhi's Tihar jail. Subramanian's lawyer denied CBI's claim that he was the Himalayan yogi.

After recording submissions of both sides, the court reserved its order on the bail plea.

Subramanian was quizzed exhaustively by the CBI in its custody. He was also confronted with Ramkrishna. The CBI has alleged that Subramanian had remained evasive and tried to mislead the agency. As reported by ET, Ramkrishna has maintained in her questioning that she was steered by the yogi, her spiritual guru, with whom she had shared confidential information related to the exchange.

Earlier this week, the CBI told the court that it had constituted a special investigation team comprising nearly 30 officials, including senior officers, to investigate the alleged stock market manipulation case.

Executives of the National Stock Exchange including former managing director Ravi Narain have already been quizzed as part of its probe, the CBI had said. It is also investigating possible roles of Securities and Exchange Board of India officials.

Meanwhile, 11 more accused who were involved in the racket are still absconding.

Noida Police have busted a fake MBBS admission racket operating in the city and arrested five persons, including three women, in this connection, an official said on Wednesday. The accused, identified as Dipesh, Avnish Srivastava, Divya Mishra, Kanika Ojha alias Kavita and Nidhi Marwa were arrested from Sector 62 here.

Meanwhile, 11 more accused who were involved in the racket are still absconding. They were identified as Shashikant, Kundan Kumar, Arnav Singh, Hira Lal, Ritu Gupta, Shailendra, Ujjwal Singh, Ritesh Singh, Kuldeep, Harsh Tomar and Nandini. 

According to the police, all the aforementioned people, who were part of the fake admission racket, used to promise people to get their wards admitted to several medical colleges in the country. "They used to collect hefty amounts from the gullible people," a police officer said. During questioning, the arrested individuals confessed to the crime and accepted that they had recently duped "two parties" to the tune of Rs 36.5 lakh.

An FIR has been registered under sections 419 (Punishment for cheating by personation), 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (Forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (Forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (Using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of the Indian Penal Code and 66 D of the IT act against the accused. "Searches are on to nab the absconding accused," the police officer added.

The look out notices have been issued to prevent them from leaving the country, officials said.

The CBI on Tuesday said it has issued look out notices against Rishi Kamlesh Agarwal, the former chairman and managing director of ABG Shipyard, and eight others in a bank fraud case of over Rs 22,842 crore. The agency in a statement said Look Out Circulars (LOCs) have already been opened by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the accused, while maintaining that the accused have been located in India. The look out notices have been issued to prevent them from leaving the country, officials said.

The State Bank of India (SBI) had also opened LOC against the main accused in 2019. The CBI has booked ABG Shipyard Ltd and its then chairman and managing director Rishi Kamlesh Agarwal along with others for allegedly cheating a consortium of banks of over Rs 22,842 crore. The agency has also named the then executive director Santhanam Muthaswamy, directors Ashwini Kumar, Sushil Kumar Agarwal and Ravi Vimal Nevetia and another company ABG International Pvt Ltd for alleged offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust and abuse of official position under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act, they said.

In continuation of the investigation, the CBI conducted searches at 13 locations on February 12. The officials claimed they had received several incriminating documents, such as books of accounts of the accused borrower company, which was being scrutinised. The bank had first filed a complaint on November 8, 2019 on which the central investigation agency had sought some clarifications on March 12, 2020. The bank filed a fresh complaint in August that year. After "scrutinising" for over one- and-a-half-years, the CBI acted on the complaint, filing an FIR on February 7, 2022.

The officials said the case was big with voluminous data and records as 28 banks were involved and needed verification before moving with an FIR. They said the company had allegedly diverted funds to lot of firms which also needed detailed scrutiny. "We did not want to leave any loophole before proceeding with a regular case. We ensured a detailed pre-verification is done on all the aspects before we register an FIR," a senior official said on the condition of anonymity when asked about time taken to file the case. The company was sanctioned credit facilities from 28 banks and financial institutions led by ICICI Bank, with the SBI, having exposure of Rs 2,468.51 crore, they said.

A forensic audit by Ernst and Young has shown that between 2012-17, the accused colluded together and committed illegal activities, including diversion of funds, misappropriation and criminal breach of trust, they said. It is the biggest bank fraud case registered by the CBI. Funds were used for purposes other than for which they were released by banks, it said. The loan account was declared a non-performing asset (NPA) in July, 2016 and a fraud in 2019. In its complaint, the SBI said ABG Shipyard Ltd (ABGSL) is the flagship company of the ABG Group which engaged in the business of ship building and ship-repair.

The ABGSL, being a major player in Indian ship-building industry, operates from shipyards that are located at Dahej and Surat in Gujarat, with a capacity to build vessels up to 18,000 dead weight tonnage (DWT) at Surat Shipyard and 1,20,000 dead weight tonnage (DWT) at Dahej Shipyard. The company has constructed over 165 vessels (including 46 for export market) in the last 16 years, including specialised vessels like the newsprint carriers. Self-discharging and loading bulk cement carriers, floating cranes etc with class approval of all international classification societies like Lloyds, American Bureau of Shipping, Bureau Veritas, IRS, DNV, the complaint said.

"Global crisis has impacted the shipping industry due to fall in commodity demand and prices and subsequent fall in cargo demand. The cancellation of contracts for few ships and vessels resulted in piling up of inventory. This has resulted in paucity of working capital and caused significant increase in the operating cycle, thereby aggravating the liquidity problem and financial problem," the complaint said. The SBI said there was no demand of commercial vessels as the industry was going through a downturn even in 2015 which was further aggravated due to lack of defence orders, making it difficult for the company to maintain repayment schedule, it said. "The company has been referred to NCLT, Ahmedabad, by ICICI Bank for CIRP," it said. 

 These frauds take place when a person leaves a company to join another. One is advised to report such frauds immediately to the police station,

PF Alert! Want your EPFO account to be safe? Follow these rules 

The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has issued an alert to all account holders and have urged them to not share their information like their account number, passwords, safe on social media or other individuals. 

The notification was issued to keep the account holders safe from falling prey to any fraudsters who can use the money for their benefit. 

Account-holders should know that EPFO ​​never asks for Aadhaar, PAN, UAN, bank details from its members. If someone asks for information on the phone or social media, be careful and do not reply to such people, instead report them immediately to the nearest police station. 

EPFO took to Twitter to share this information. The tweet said, "Never ask its members to share personal details like Aadhaar, PAN, UAN, Bank Account or OTP over the phone or social media." The tweet further said that the EPFO ​​never asks to deposit any amount through WhatsApp, social media etc. 

Never share this information to keep your account safe: 

- PAN number

- Aadhaar number

- UAN

- PF account number

Mostly, these frauds are seen when a person leaves one company to join another. If this happens to you, then you should immediately report to the police station with all the details. 

Sunny Leone had shared the details of alleged loan frauds that took place on the fintech platform Dhani Stocks Limited.

 Even though digital transactions helped us through difficult times, however, the risk of fraud has also increased with time - Know how to avoid scams.

Avoid online fraud by following THESE 5 secure ways to make digital transactions

Digital transactions saw an increase for the first time in India when PM Modi announced demonetisation on November 8, 2016. After that, it was the COVID-19 pandemic that helped boost the industry so much so that now you can purchase the smallest of products from anywhere in India through online payments. 

Humans have massively become dependent on them and have their details saved in every app for instant transactions. Even though digital transactions helped us through difficult times, however, the risk of fraud has also increased with time. 

As per a report by The Economic Times (ET), Indians are vulnerable to fraud during digital transactions and fear it the most. But fear not, we have a few ways that will help individuals perform digital transactions with full security. 

Here are 5 ways to stay secure online while making digital payments: 

Use of QR Code

QR codes are the easiest way to scam a person. Many times we receive messages that have a link that leads to a QR code that we are asked to scan to receive a certain gift or a hamper, however, we never should. QR codes are solely meant for transactions and only scam them when you have the QR code physically in front of you.

Contact Customer Care

If you ever face trouble transferring money or making a digital transaction, it is always better to contact the card company or the seller. One shouldn't try again and again, because in the process you might lose all your data to a third party. 

Use of Tokenisation

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently introduced the concept of tokenisation of cards used for digital transactions. Basically, users will now be able to make payments without sharing sensitive data with another party. Anyone involved in frequent online transactions should opt for this for better safety. 

Credit Score

Always keep track of your credit score. This will help you know your market credibility and keep a track of payments made through your card. 

Layers of protection

Even though digital transaction apps provide users with the option of adding a code to access the app, one must always use protection like a fingerprint scan or face scan to access such apps for better safety. 

The Income Tax Department has warned people against clicking at any unknown links which can make them vulnerable to fraud.

Finding the right job amidst rising inflation has become quite a challenge. Since the situation is changing almost every other day amidst the pandemic, fraudsters have now started scamming people by promising fake jobs.

As warned by the Income Tax Department, many people have been asked to give jobs in the Income Tax Department. Fraudsters have also issued joining letters to several people.

The department further alerted that the jobs in Group-B and Group-C are issued by the Staff Selection Committee (SSC) only. If you want to work in this department, then you can find all relevant information on the official website of SSC.

The department has also warned people against clicking at any unknown links which can make them vulnerable to fraud.

Many people who claim to offer jobs to unknown persons often run away once they get the money.

Important things to avoid getting scammed

Don’t get involve in any transaction with unknown persons.

In case, you feel suspicious about an incident, visit the official website of the Ministry of Home Affairs https://cybercrime.gov.in, and register a complaint. 

 A couple has been arrested for allegedly running a government contract scam and duping several people of crores of rupees.

Real life Bunty-Babli: Couple runs massive government contract scam, dupes people of Rs 20 crore

A man and his wife were arrested from Jaipur for allegedly duping several people of crores of rupees by promising railway and government contracts, police said on Tuesday.

The accused, Abhishek Aggarwal (38) and his wife Meenakshi (34), natives of Supaul district in Bihar, were wanted in at least four criminal cases and have been absconding for the last three years.

In the last five years, the duo cheated big businessmen and property dealers of approximately Rs 20 crore, police said.

The victims were swayed by their lavish lifestyle and paid advances to the duo with the hope of getting government contracts, they said.

After getting advances, the couple fled and switched off their mobile phones.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) Vikram Singh said police teams analysed several mobile numbers used by the couple.

"The couple lived a very lavish lifestyle and claimed that they could fetch any government contract through their contacts. When people approached them, they demanded crores of rupees. After getting the money they used to flee," he said.

During the investigation, the police traced the husband-wife duo to Jaipur. They were apprehended and later arrested, the police officer said.

 Ramkrishna has had an illustrious career and was once hailed as the 'queen of the bourses'. She was awarded 'Forbes Women Leader of the year' in 2013.

Chitra Ramkrishna arrested, know why she was called 'Queen of the Bourses'

former National Stock Exchange (NSE) CEO Chitra Ramkrishna was arrested by the CBI in the co-location scam case. The case is getting merkier by the day with new developments cropping up everyday. Former National Stock Exchange (NSE) group operating officer (GOO), Anand Subramanian was arrested a week ago in the same case.

Chitra Ramkrishna has had an illustrious career and was once hailed as the 'Queen of the Bourses'. She has been among the select few women leaders at the helm of leading stock exchanges around the world. However, her career got marred when she became headlines for all the wrong reasons.

According to SEBI, Chitra Ramkrishna had been allowing an unidentified Himalayan yogi to advise her on important decisions for the past 20 years. It went on to say that she was influenced by the 'yogi' even in the appointment of Anand Subramanian as NSE's group operating officer and advisor to the managing director.

Read | CBI arrests former CEO Chitra Ramkrishna in NSE co-location scam

Who is Chitra Ramkrishna?

Chitra holds a degree from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK, and is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). 

She was the third woman to head an exchange in the Asia-Pacific region after Sri Lanka's Colombo Stock Exchange and China's Shenzhen Stock Exchange. 

She completed chartered accountancy at the age of 21 and joined the Industrial Development Bank of India in 1985 as assistant manager in charge of capital markets.

In the 1980s, Chitra Ramkrishna was involved in the drafting of the legislative framework of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

Chitra Ramkrishna was appointed joint managing director of National Stock Exchange (NSE) in 2009 and promoted to chief executive officer (CEO) in 2013.

Prior to quitting the NSE, Chitra Ramkrishna was the second-highest paid executive in the financial services industry in the finacial year 2016.

Chitra Ramkrishna's salary that year was second only to Aditya Puri's, the then managing director of HDFC Bank, who took home Rs 9.7 crore.

Ramkrishna has served various operational and strategic aspects of NSE for many years during her roles as Deputy and Joint Managing Director. 

With Chitra at the helm, NSE's daily average turnover, including both cash and derivatives, doubled to Rs 3.5 trillion, from Rs 1.6 trillion in the three-and-a-half years.

Chitra Ramkrishna was awarded 'Forbes Women Leader of the year' in 2013. Fortune India termed her as the 'most powerful woman in India's securities market'.

What is the controversy?

In February 2022, the Securities and Exchange Board of India charged Chitra Ramkrishna and other NSE officials for alleged governance lapses.

It included violating securities contract rules in the hiring of Anand Subramanian as the chief strategic advisor and re-designation as GOO and advisor to MD.

Ramkrishna had shared certain internal confidential information, including financial and business plans of NSE, with the Himalayan yogi, SEBI accused.

SEBI also went on to accuse that Chitra Ramkrishna had even consulted the Himalayan yogi over the performance appraisals of the exchange's employees.

 Chitra Ramkrishna and Group Operating Officer and her Advisor Anand Subramanian ran a money-making scheme during their stint at the NSE.

SEBI said Ramkrishna failed to maintain the highest standards of personal integrity, truthfulness, honesty and fortitude in discharging her duties.

She was accused of engaging in acts discreditable to her responsibilities as MD and CEO of NSE by acting arbitrarily and misusing her delegated powers.

CBI arrests former CEO Chitra Ramkrishna in NSE co-location scam

The 190-page order also faulted Ramkrishna for running the exchange at the behest of a mysterious yogi.

Reported By:DNA Web Team| Edited By: DNA Web Team |Source: DNA webdesk |Updated: Mar 07, 2022, 07:10 AM IST

CBI arrests former CEO Chitra Ramkrishna in NSE co-location scam 

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday arrested the former managing director and chief executive officer of National Stock Exchange (NSE) Chitra Ramkrishna in Delhi in connection with the co-location scam case. 

On Saturday, a Delhi court had refused to grant anticipatory bail to Ramkrishna. A CBI team called Chitra for questioning and later she was arrested. She will be produced before a competent court on Monday. 

On February 25, Anand Subramanian, former Group Operating Officer and advisor to Chitra Ramkrishna, was arrested by CBI in Chennai. Earlier, the Securities and Exchange Board (SEBI) has slapped a penalty of Rs 3 crore on Chitra Ramkrishna in the co-location case.

The 190-page order also faulted Ramkrishna for running the exchange at the behest of a mysterious yogi. The market regulator SEBI called it "bizarre misconduct" and a "glaring breach" of regulations. The term 'co-location' refers to a setup in which the broker's computer is located in the same area as the stock exchange's server. 

There are allegations of preferential access to the trading system to a few. 

(Agency report)