As a part of its latest money laundering probe, India’s Enforcement Directorate(ED) has frozen Bitcoin worth $1.5 Million ((Rs 12.8 Crore).
The official statement informs that under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), ED froze 77.6 bitcoins as it probed Aamir Khan and others linked to gaming app E-nuggets in its investigation.
ED declared that the frozen bitcoins were first bought on WazirX application before transferring them to Binance. Note that it was on Binance that the assets have been frozen.
Also Read: ED Probing WazirX for Money Laundering of Rs 2,790 Crore
The investigation was led by Park Street police in Kolkata, and has been going on since February 15, 2021. The press statement noted that Aamir Khan and his accomplice, Nesar Ahmed Khan, launched E-Nuggets with the intention of defrauding users.
ED revealed that after gathering a considerable amount of money from the public, withdrawal from the said app was abruptly stopped on one pretext or the other.
ED stated, “Thereafter, all data including profile information was wiped from the said app servers.”
The inquiry further discovered that the accused had moved a part of the amount illegally earned via E-Nuggets overseas by using Crypto Exchange.
On digging deeper, it was found that a dummy account was created in the name of Sima Naskar, the Proprietor of M/s Pixal Design, in the WazirX. This account was later used to purchase the crypto assets which in turn were transferred to another Binance account.
ED claimed, “The balance of said transferred cryptocurrencies i.e. 77.62710139 Bitcoins (equivalent to USD 1573466 i.e. Rs 12.83 Crore approximately) at Binance crypto exchange has been freezed.”
During a previous investigation conducted at Aamir Khan’s residential premises, a sum of Rs 17.32 Crore was found and seized.
ED concluded the search is not getting over anytime soon, as further inquiry is still under progress.
Also Read: India’s ED Seizes ₹42.8 Cr in Chirag Tomar Crypto Fraud
