ED chargesheets eight in chit fund fraud of Rs 67.37 cr

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it has filed a prosecution complaint (charge sheet) against eight accused including a private firm DJN Commodities and others in connection with a Prevention of Money Laundering case pertaining to a chit fund fraud of Rs 67.37 crore.

The chargesheet was filed before a special PMLA court in Ranchi which has taken cognizance of the matter.

The ED had initiated a money laundering investigation against DJN Commodities and its proprietors late Jitendra Mohan Sinha and Vishal Kumar Sinha on the basis of the FIR registered by the Jharkhand police under various sections of the IPC for cheating people by luring them to invest in the chit fund company DJN Commodities by assuring of lucrative returns of 3% to 4 % per month.

The ED found that Sinha in criminal conspiracy with Late Jeetendra Mohan Sinha, Prashant Kumar, Ivaturi Santosh, Vivek Sinha, Anand Mohan Sinha and Bipin Kumar had opened 43 branches of DJN Commodities in Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, Rajasthan, U.P., Gujarat, Delhi and Guwahati without informing the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited (MCX) about the opening of 43 branches.

They had also opened 68 bank accounts in the names of the accused persons and other companies to siphon off the proceeds of crime.

They received the investors' money in these bank accounts and diverted it to other associated companies of the DJN Group and utilized the money for their personal use.

"Total proceeds of crime is Rs. 67.37 crore in this case," the official said.

During the course of investigation, ED had attached movable and immovable properties worth Rs 1.66 crore generated through proceeds of crime in the name of the company and its directors in 2019.