Hyderabad: police bust Rs 900-crore investment racket

The Hyderabad police on Wednesday busted a major investment racket by China-based firms running into around Rs 903 crore and arrested 10 people, including a Chinese and a Taiwan national, officers said. The fraud used online investment apps to lure investors. The money was put into virtual accounts and passed through authorised money change and forex firms, to be moved out of the country illegally, exploiting gaps in the regulatory framework.Hyderabad police commissioner CV Anand said the arrested people identified as Sahil Bajaj, Sunny alias Pankaj, Virender Singh, Sanjay Yadav, Navneeth Kaushik, Mohammad Parvez, Syed Sultan and Mirza Nadeem Baig, besides Chinese national Lec alias Li Zhounjau and Taiwan national Chu Chun Yu. The two main accused -- arrested Chinese national Li Zhongjun and Taiwanese national Chu Chun-Yu -- are suspected to have come to India in 2019-20 to recruit their operatives but returned to China when the pandemic broke out. Once the fraud restarted, they shared all details with their bosses in China and Taiwan. The complaint in the case was filed by a Hyderabad resident in July. He said he was cheated after investing Rs 1.6 lakh in an investment app called LOXAM.

The police found his money had gone to an account -- Xindai Technologies Pvt Ltd -- in IndusInd Bank. “On investigation, it was found that the money of the complainant was deposited in the bank account of IndusInd Bank in the name of Xindai Technologies Pvt Ltd, which was opened by Virender Singh,” Anand said. Further investigations revealed that Xindai Technologies shared the same phone number with another company – Betench Networks Pvt Ltd whose bank account was opened by Sanjay Kumar Yadav of Delhi on the instructions of Lec alias Li Zhounjau. Police found that a large amount of money from the 38 accounts of Xindai Technologies Pvt Ltd went to Ranjan MoneyCorp and KDS Forext Pvt Ltd. This money is sent to foreign exchange companies run in the name of International Tours and Travels. Though these forex firms are licenced by the Reserve Bank of India, the accused repeatedly flouted the guidelines laid down by RBI regarding money changing activities. Sahil and Sunny joined hands with other fraudsters and transferred the above money abroad through hawala, the police commissioner said.