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ED Arrests 2 In ₹300 Crore Digital Investment Scam; Duo Remanded To Custody

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Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested two persons for allegedly cheating investors in Gujarat and Maharashtra of around Rs 300 crore through digital investment schemes and laundering the proceeds. A court has remanded the accused Sudhir Kotadiya, 33, and his cousin, Umang Kotadiya, 27, from Amreli to ED custody till March 20.

The money laundering case was registered based on an FIR initially filed at the Vartak Nagar police station in Thane and later transferred to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW).

Investigators allege the accused operated a large-scale digital investment scheme through several entities, including Qfonn App Limited, Qfon Connect India LLP, Qfon Entertainment Pvt Ltd, and Qfon Ajobman India LLP, among other related firms.

ED prosecutor Arvind Aghav, seeking their custody, told the court that the accused had been absconding, prompting authorities to issue a look-out circular.

He said the duo fled to Dubai and later re-entered India via Nepal to evade legal action before being traced and arrested in Gujarat.

According to investigators, the accused lured people to invest by promising monthly returns ranging from 2% to 10.5%, claiming the income would be generated through online advertisement viewing and app-based digital activities.

The probe found that funds from new investors were used to pay returns to earlier investors, while a significant portion was allegedly siphoned off.

One investor who had put in Rs 183 crore provided details of about 60 companies, entities and individuals whose bank accounts were allegedly used to collect nearly Rs 55 crore on the instructions of the accused.

The ED claims Sudhir Kotadiya was the mastermind behind the Qfonn app-based Ponzi scheme and held 25% shares in Qfonn App Limited, with another 25% held by his wife, Ranjanben Kotadiya, while the remaining shares were with other family members.

Umang Kotadiya allegedly handled operations, serving as director or partner in multiple Qfon group entities and acting as an authorised signatory for several bank accounts linked to the scheme.

Crime

Patna court stays arrest of Khan Sir in coaching centre firing case

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Patna, June 9: A Patna court on Tuesday granted interim relief to popular educator Faisal Khan, widely known as Khan Sir, by staying his arrest in connection with the recent coaching centre firing case.

The District Judge’s court pronounced its order on Tuesday after reserving its verdict on Khan Sir’s anticipatory bail plea following a hearing on Monday.

While the court has not yet granted anticipatory bail, it has directed the police not to take any coercive or punitive action against him until further proceedings.

The court has also sought the case diary and details of Khan Sir’s criminal history from the investigating agency. The matter will now be heard again on June 30.

Seeking the case diary and the accused’s criminal record is a routine judicial procedure while considering an anticipatory bail application.

Although the bail plea remains pending, the stay on arrest has provided major relief to Khan Sir, who had been facing the possibility of immediate police action.

After the court order, Khan Sir’s counsel, Advocate Arvind Kumar Mahuar, told media that Khan Sir is now free to move around wherever he wants as the court has given him protection from the arrest.

The case stems from an incident that occurred on the night of June 2, when unidentified individuals allegedly attacked Khan Global Studies, the coaching institute run by Khan Sir in Patna.

Following the incident, police arrested Roshan Anand, the owner of Gyan Bindu Coaching Institute, and sent him to judicial custody.

The controversy intensified after a video surfaced showing two security guards allegedly firing shots into the air outside the coaching institute during the attack.

The police subsequently arrested both guards and lodged a case against them. Later, Khan Sir was also named in the case.

Police registered an FIR against Khan Sir under provisions related to attempted murder and the Arms Act. Since the registration of the case, he had reportedly remained out of the police’s reach.

Law enforcement officials had visited his coaching institute in an attempt to apprehend him, but he was not found there.

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Crime

CBI court sentences firm partner to three years RI in Rs 4 crore bank fraud case

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Chandigarh, June 5: A Special CBI Court in Mohali, Punjab, has convicted and sentenced Samir Dua, a partner of M/s G.D. Ispat Udyog, Mandi Gobindgarh, to three years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) along with a fine of Rs 15,000 in connection with a multi-crore bank fraud case, an official statement said on Friday.

The sentence was pronounced on June 4, following the conclusion of trial proceedings in the case investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

According to the CBI, the case was registered against Dalip Dua and Samir Dua, partners of M/s G.D. Ispat Udyog, along with other accused, for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy to defraud Indian Overseas Bank’s Mandi Gobindgarh branch in Punjab.

The investigation revealed that the accused had fraudulently secured a cash credit limit of Rs 4 crore from the bank by submitting false and fabricated information and documents.

The loan facility was allegedly obtained through misrepresentation, causing a wrongful loss to the bank and corresponding unlawful gain to the accused, the agency said.

Following a detailed investigation, the CBI filed a charge sheet against the accused persons before the competent court. During the trial, the prosecution presented evidence establishing the fraudulent nature of the transactions and the conspiracy behind obtaining the credit facility.

After examining the evidence and hearing the arguments, the Special CBI Court found Samir Dua guilty and sentenced him to three years of rigorous imprisonment. The court also imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 15,000.

Proceedings against co-accused Dalip Dua were abated due to his death during the pendency of the case.

The conviction marks the culmination of the CBI’s investigation into the bank fraud, underscoring the agency’s efforts to prosecute financial crimes and hold those responsible for defrauding public sector banks accountable.

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Crime

NCB seizes 406 kg ganja, arrests 4 accused in UP’s Gorakhpur

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Gorakhpur, June 4: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) seized 406 kg of ‘ganja’ (contraband substance) in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur and arrested four accused who were taking the contraband to Deoria from Tezpur in Assam, an official said on Thursday.

The NCB Gorakhpur Zone, in coordination with the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF), achieved the breakthrough when they arrested two persons on Wednesday, a statement said.

Acting on specific intelligence, NCB Gorakhpur intercepted a pickup van on the Salempur–Lal Bazar Main Road in Deoria and seized 202 kg of ganja concealed in the vehicle, the statement added.

During the follow-up investigation, NCB teams conducted further operations in Barhaj town of Deoria, resulting in the recovery of an additional 204.8 kg of ganja and the arrest of two more accused, it said.

With two separate recoveries, the total seizure by the NCB and Uttar Pradesh STF totalled 406.8 kg of ganja, it added.

The four accused were charged with offences under the relevant provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

The NCB said that investigation was underway to identify and apprehend other persons involved in the trafficking network and to ascertain the forward and backward linkages of the contraband.

In a separate operation in Maharashtra earlier, the NCB arrested two drug traffickers and recovered 702 kg ganja while busting a major interstate trafficking network in Gondia, an official said.

“The 702 kg ganja was concealed in 100 packets among grocery cargo items, including detergent, toothpaste and hair dye, was recovered and seized,” the official said in a statement.

The seized contraband was sourced from Odisha and destined for multiple Maharashtra-based drug syndicates operating in Nagpur, Gondia, Pune and Mumbai.

In another case, the NCB secured jail terms in a Mumbai court for five drug traffickers, including the kingpin, in a synthetic drug trafficking case.

The convicts were sentenced to imprisonment ranging from 15 years to one year, a statement added.

The Special NDPS Court in Thane sentenced the kingpin Mohammed Arif Yaqoob Bhujwala, a resident of Mumbai’s Chinchbunder, to 15 years’ imprisonment, along with a fine of Rs 2 lakh, the NCB’s Mumbai Zonal Unit said.

“Parvez Khan alias “Chinku Pathan” and Mohammed Salman Khan, both residents of Chinchbunder, along with Vikrant Jain, a resident of Bhiwandi in Thane, were awarded five years’ imprisonment each and fined Rs 50,000 each,” the NCB added.

“Haris Faizullah Khan, resident of Bandra West in Mumbai, was sentenced to one-year imprisonment, along with a fine of Rs 10,000,” it said.

The NCB investigation led to freezing of two movable and three immovable properties worth more than Rs 1.5 crore belonging to Parvez Khan alias Chinku Pathan.

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