On October 4, Enforcement Directorate (ED) said in a statement that the agency carried out search operations and froze the account balance of Rs 5.59 crores of one Aamir Khan and his accomplices under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).
The raids were carried out as part of an investigation being conducted against the accused in connection to the Mobile Gaming App named E-Nuggets. As per the agency, it has frozen an amount worth Rs 36.96 crores in the case.
ED has carried out search operation & freezed account balance of ₹5.59 Cr of Aamir Khan & his accomplices under PMLA, in respect to an investigation being conducted relating to the Mobile Gaming App, namely E-nuggets. So far, an amount of ₹36.96 Cr has been freezed in this case
— ED (@dir_ed) October 3, 2022
Aamir Khan, not to be confused with film Lal Singh Chaddha’s lead actor Aamir Khan, is a businessman from Kolkata’s Garden Reach area. On September 10 this year, ED raided six locations linked to Khan in an investigation against fraud app E-Nuggets, through which thousands of people reportedly lost huge amounts of money.
During the raids, ED recovered a large cache of cash that amounted to more than Rs 18 crores. The bundles of notes were reportedly hidden in various places in Khan’s house, including under the bed. The house where the case was found is registered under the name of Aamir Khan’s father, Nasir Ahmed Khan.
A complaint against Khan and his accomplices was filed by Federal Bank officials under PMLA under suspicion of fraudulent activities. In a press release, ED had said, “During the initial period, the users were rewarded with the commission, and the balance in the wallet could be withdrawn hassle-free. This provided initial confidence among users, and they started investing bigger amounts for a greater percentage of commission and a greater number of purchase orders.”
It added, “Further, after collecting the handsome amount from the public, all of a sudden, the withdrawal from the said App was stopped, at one or the other pretext viz. system upgradation, an investigation by LEAs, etc. Thereafter, all data including profile information was wiped off from the said App servers, and only then the users understood the ploy.”
Further investigation into the case is underway.
