Key Highlights
- The ED seized about ₹2.5 crore in cryptocurrency during raids across 16 locations in West Bengal.
- The probe is tied to an alleged illegal call center fraud targeting foreign nationals, mainly in the U.S.
- Investigators also identified over ₹20 crore in suspected assets, including land, hotels, and resorts.
India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized cryptocurrency worth about ₹2.5 crore during searches in West Bengal as part of a money laundering investigation linked to an alleged illegal call center operation.
According to the official release, the searches were carried out by the agency’s Kolkata Zonal Office on March 16 across 16 locations in Kolkata, Howrah, Siliguri, and Durgapur. The operation targeted a laundering network allegedly built around call center fraud involving foreign nationals, mainly in the United States. Besides crypto, officials said they recovered fixed deposits, gold coins, documents, and digital devices during the raids.
Probe tied to alleged call center fraud
The investigation stems from a West Bengal Police FIR filed under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Indian Telegraph Act.
According to the Enforcement Directorate, the accused operated an illegal call center that contacted foreign nationals, defrauded them, and then moved the proceeds back into India through unauthorized channels. The agency said its money trail analysis under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act pointed to several bank accounts used to receive and layer funds linked to the alleged fraud.
Those accounts were held in the name of M/s Technosolis Informatics Limited and other entities allegedly controlled by the late Dibangkar Ghara, Surashree Kar, Subhajit Chakraborty, and their associates.
Assets worth over ₹20 crore identified
The agency said it also identified immovable properties valued at more than ₹20 crore, including land parcels, hotels, and resorts, which it suspects were acquired using proceeds of crime. Among other items recovered during the searches were two Bangladeshi passports and four luxury vehicles, including a Mercedes.
The agency’s disclosures suggest investigators are examining not only the movement of funds but also how alleged criminal proceeds may have been converted into real estate and other high-value assets.
Seizure adds to wider scrutiny of illicit fund flows
At one premises in Siliguri, officials also seized 88 liquor bottles of different brands and handed them over to the West Bengal Excise Department. The agency said the handover was part of efforts related to maintaining a fair environment ahead of the 2026 West Bengal Legislative Assembly elections.
The case adds to a broader pattern in which authorities are increasingly focusing on how digital assets are used alongside bank accounts, shell entities, and physical assets in suspected laundering networks.
Similar patterns appear in other ED crypto-related probes
The latest West Bengal case comes as the Enforcement Directorate continues to pursue other crypto-linked financial investigations across the country.
In a separate case, the agency recently provisionally attached about ₹10.24 crore spread across 94 bank accounts in its ongoing probe into the alleged HPZ Token scam. According to officials, the case involves a nationwide investment fraud in which victims were allegedly promised unusually high returns.
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