INDIA. West Bengal: The Enforcement Directorate seized a huge amount of illegitimate money from the house of Naser Khan, a transport businessman in Garden Reach, Kolkata.
According to sources, a bunch of 500 rupees denomination along with 2000 rupees notes wrapped in plastic bags were recovered from the floor of the bed of Khan’s two-storey house on Saturday morning.
ED asked for counting machines to get the exact figure of the amount. Bank employees were seen entering the premises with eight counting machines. The probe agency sought women officials for tight security around the place.
The ED also raided the house of a practising lawyer in the Park Street area, further the advocate was bombarded with interrogation. The home of a lawyer is raided at 34-A McLeod Avenue below Park Avenue Police Station space.
In the current update, The alleged transport businessman, however, runs multiple businesses including a mobile gaming app apart from his multiple vehicle chain businesses.
The searches conducted at the premises associated with the businessman under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) are still ongoing, they said, adding that a tally of the seized cash is also underway.
According to ED officials, wads of cash were seized from the second floor of a house owned by transporter Naser Khan. Amir Khan, the younger son of Naser Ahmed Khan, launched a mobile gaming app called E-Nuggets, which initially rewarded investors with commissions and allowed hassle-free withdrawals of the balance in their wallets.
Users soon started investing larger amounts in the hope of getting a higher commission. Once the hefty amount was collected from the users, they were prevented from withdrawing on various pretexts, officials disclosed.
After that, all user data, including their profile information, was allegedly deleted from the app’s servers, they added. The ED has registered a case against Aamir Khan and others in this regard based on a complaint by Federal Bank authorities dated 15 February 2021.
The Central prob officials initiated a search operation at three places in Kolkata around 8:30 am on Saturday. They raided McLeod Street near Park Street alongside the harbourside area in Mominpur and Shahi Stable Lane in Garden Reach.
Reacting to the incident, Trinamool Congress minister Firhad Hakim said, “I have a feeling that they (the Centre) want to damage the state’s economy. If someone is found doing something wrong, then I have nothing to say, the law will take its own course. However, I feel there is an intention to create an environment of fear in businessmen so that they restrain from doing business in Bengal. Recently, the income tax department had also raided some premises, but found no money.”
In the recent past, two TMC heads were booked under corruption charges and the prob agency is looking for further leads into the case as a wide range of corruption is working beneath the cityscape.
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