The Aryavarth Express
Agency (Haryana): On May 3, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) made a significant seizure of 19.5 kilograms of gold, worth approximately Rs 14.04 crore, from a bank locker in Faridabad, Haryana. The locker, maintained under the fraudster’s mother’s name at the Ballabgarh branch of Indian Bank, was linked to Punit Kumar, also known as Puneet Maheshwari, who was arrested on April 3 at IGI Airport.
Punit Kumar, who resides in Moti Nagar, Delhi, was initially placed in ED custody for 12 days following his arrest and is currently under judicial custody. The gold is believed to be proceeds from cyber crimes, hidden by Kumar in the locker.
Further investigations by the ED in February and March 2024 had already led to the recovery of various assets from Kumar’s premises. These included eight kilograms of foreign-made gold bars valued at Rs 5.04 crore, Rs 75 lakh in cash, luxury items including high-end watches, Mercedes, Audi, and Kia vehicles, as well as crucial documents and electronic devices containing evidence of the criminal activities.
The ongoing investigation has uncovered a complex money laundering operation involving Kumar and several associates, including Ashish Kakkar and others, who facilitated illegal outward remittances to countries like UAE, Singapore, and Hong Kong, among others. This network engaged in hawala transactions and utilized shell companies for routing the illicit funds, which primarily stemmed from online gaming activities conducted by foreign-based gaming websites.
In a related search last year, the ED also discovered numerous incriminating documents, forged IDs, and digital devices at properties belonging to Kakkar, revealing the operation of multiple bogus companies both in India and abroad. These entities were allegedly used for collecting and transferring proceeds of crime under the guise of import/export activities, thereby violating FEMA provisions.
The authorities have noted that these operations involved over 100 domestic and foreign companies with hundreds of bank accounts, pointing to a large-scale international money laundering scheme. The case highlights the extensive measures taken by criminal networks to exploit online platforms for financial crimes and the corresponding efforts by Indian authorities to clamp down on these illicit activities.
