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ED arrests PCH director Balvinder Singh for Rs 370 Cr bank fraud

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Balvinder Singh the Promoter – Director of the PCH Corporation Ltd and other PCH group companies under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a case relating to defrauding banks to the tune of Rs 370 crore.

Balvinder Singh was arrested on Tuesday. He was produced before a Special Court in Hyderabad on Wednesday, which remanded him to judicial custody till February 23.

Earlier the CBI in Chennai had lodged a case against him and others under various sections of the IPC. The federal probe agency had also submitted a charge sheet in this connection before a Special Court. The ED also initiated a money laundering probe on the basis of the CBI’s FIR and charge sheet.

In the CBI charge sheet it had been alleged that PCH Agencies Pvt Ltd, PCH Lifestyle Pvt Ltd, and Balvinder Singh and others had caused wrongful loss to Punjab and Sind Bank, George Town branch, Chennai, by fraudulently availing credit facilities by submitting fabricated documents to show higher turnover.

The accused after availing the loan diverted it to other entities. “Subsequently, two more FIRs were registered by the CBI, BS&FB, Bengaluru and CBI Chennai against the PCH Group companies,” said an ED official.

The ED has learnt in its investigation that the PCH group companies had availed loans from various public sector and private banks and failed to repay the said loans.

The amounts received as loan was diverted through shell companies with the help of Chartered Accounts (CAs) and Entry-operators in Hyderabad and Mumbai and the amount received in the PCH group companies for the purpose of showing a false rosy picture about the financial health of PCH Group, for the purpose of availing more loans and also for the purpose of an intended IPO.

Part of these diverted amounts was also received in the personal account of Balvinder Singh and his family members and relatives.

“Investigation conducted so far has revealed that Balvinder Singh had received amounts totaling to Rs 53.97 crore from various shell entities which had no genuine business activity, but were used only for the purpose of rotation of the funds and these amounts were projected by Balvinder Singh as ‘unsecured’ loans,” said the ED official.

The ED said that the source of these funds was nothing but the siphoned off loan. This amount was utilised by the accused to purchase properties in the names of his companies as well as in personal names which were later mortgaged to the banks for availing more credit facilities. These unsecured loans have not been repaid till date.

The ED official said that further investigation in the matter was on.

Crime

Kolkata law college rape: Monojit Mishra made 16 calls in 3 hours, police probe details

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Kolkata, July 4: Monojit Mishra, one of the three accused and reportedly the main architect in the law college student gang-rape case, made as many as 16 calls in three hours after the crime incident took place on the evening of June 25.

Those call details are currently being examined by the investigating sleuths, and at the same time, the process of interrogation of those with whom Mishra conversed during that period has started.

The tower locations of the mobile phones of the three accused, namely Mishra, Jaib Ahmed and Pramit Mukhopadhyay, during that period are being tracked by the investigating officials to have an idea of the places they went to immediately after the crime.

Sources said that one of the calls that Mishra made from his mobile phone during that period was to a member of the governing body of the same college. Although the governing body member concerned has already been questioned by the investigating officials, the latter are not willing to disclose anything on the interrogation findings for the sake of the investigation.

This week, the investigation into the case was handed over to the Detective Department of the city police, which has started the probe process by adding new sections against the three prime accused persons.

Before Detective Department took over the charge of the investigation, the three accused persons were charged under sections on rape. However, with the Detective Department taking over the investigation sections relating to abduction and causing injuries with weapons were also slapped on the three.

On Friday morning, around 3 a.m., the sleuths of the detective department reached the campus of the law college in Kolkata along with the three accused for reenactment of the incident.

Sources said that the findings of the reenactment process will be cross-checked with the statement given by the victim soon after the event of sexual harassment took place last week. Earlier, a member of the special investigation team, which was initially investigating the matter, had gone to the college campus with the victim for reenactment purposes.

The woman, a student of the South Calcutta Law College, was allegedly raped by two senior students and an alumnus of the institute in the guard’s room on June 25. Apart from the three, the college guard has been arrested in the case so far.

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Crime

ED raids eight locations linked to ex-Cong MLA Amba Prasad in Jharkhand

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Ranchi, July 4: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday carried out raids at eight locations linked to close associates of former Congress MLA Amba Prasad from Jharkhand’s Barkagaon Assembly constituency.

The raids are part of an ongoing money laundering probe involving a prominent company engaged in coal transportation, infrastructure, and the power sector.

According to sources, simultaneous searches were conducted in Ranchi, Hazaribagh, and Barkagaon.

Among the locations searched are the residence of Amba Prasad’s aide Sanjeet in Kishoreganj (Ranchi) and the homes of her personal assistants — Sanjeev Sao, Manoj Dangi, and Pancham Kumar — in Barkagaon.

Security forces have been deployed in large numbers at all the premises where raids are being conducted.

This move comes months after the ED conducted a similar crackdown between March 12 and March 14 this year, targeting Amba Prasad, her father, and former Minister Yogendra Sao, brother Ankit Raj, and several other relatives and associates.

During those raids, the agency had seized Rs 35 lakh in cash, digital devices, fake stamps of banks and government offices, handwritten receipts, diaries, and other incriminating documents.

Officials believe that the current searches are based on evidence and leads gathered during the earlier raids. The ED is now closely examining documents related to financial transactions, land deals, and mining activities.

Ten companies reportedly registered in the names of Amba Prasad and her family members are under scrutiny.

Earlier, the ED had questioned Amba Prasad, her father Yogendra Sao, and her brother Ankit Raj at its zonal office in Ranchi in connection with the same case.

Amba Prasad was elected to the Jharkhand Assembly from Barkagaon in 2019 on a Congress ticket. Her parents — Yogendra Sao and Nirmala Devi — have also represented the same constituency in the past.

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Crime

Delhi Police arrest notorious cyber stalker in Palam

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CRIME

New Delhi, July 2: A 21-year-old man was arrested in Delhi’s Palam village for allegedly harassing a college student by creating fake Instagram accounts and using artificial intelligence (AI) tools to generate objectionable content.

The accused was persistently stalking and defaming the victim, a college-going girl, through multiple fake Instagram profiles, Amit Goel, Deputy Commissioner of Police, South West District, said in a statement.

The complainant approached the Cyber Police Station, West District, on June 16, reporting that the accused was daily creating new accounts using her photographs, posting them with derogatory captions, and targeting her and her followers.

Acting on the complaint, the police registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

“In view of the seriousness of the matter, a dedicated team led by SI Priyanka was formed to identify and apprehend the accused,” the statement added.

A team of PS Cyber, South-West District, arrested the notorious cyber stalker and recovered the smartphone used in the commission of the offence, the statement read.

During the investigation, it came to the fore that the accused was impersonating a female using a profile picture taken from the victim’s public Instagram account, the police said.

The police said the accused further used AI tools to convert the images into sexually explicit content and uploaded these edited pictures through fake Instagram stories.

Despite efforts to mask his identity by not linking any accounts to verifiable mobile numbers or Gmail IDs, the cyber team used advanced technical analysis to track the suspect to the Palam area of South-West Delhi. Multiple raids were conducted before he was successfully arrested.

The accused, whose identity has been withheld, confessed to the crime during interrogation, the police statement read.

Further investigation is underway.

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