Thane woman duped of Rs 24.7 lakh in online investment scam; nine booked

A 55yearold woman from Thane city has reportedly lost nearly Rs 247 lakh in an alleged online investment scam police said on Wednesday Following her complaint nine individuals have been booked in connection with the fraud reported news agency PTIAccording to an officer from Naupada Police Station in Thane the offence took place between August 5 and 28 when unidentified persons repeatedly contacted the woman and convinced her to invest in stock tradingldquoThe accused identified so far only through their mobile numbers added the woman to various WhatsApp groups promoting investment opportunities They provided her with websites and bank account details to facilitate tradingrdquo the officer saidEnticed by promises of ldquoattractiverdquo returns the woman proceeded to transfer a total of Rs 247 lakh to the accounts shared by the scammers reported PTIHowever when she attempted to withdraw her earnings and the invested sum the accused stopped respondingA case has been registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita BNS and the Information Technology Act reported PTIldquoEfforts are underway to trace the accused using the mobile numbers used to contact the complainantrdquo the officer addedED conducts searches in Rs 346crore bank fraud caseThe Enforcement Directorate ED on Wednesday conducted searches across DelhiNCR Tamil Nadu and Karnataka as part of a money laundering investigation linked to an alleged Rs 346crore bank fraud case involving a Haryanabased power sector company and its promoters official sources saidThe probe focuses on Gurugrambased Hythro Power Corporation Ltd HPCL currently under liquidation and its directors Amul Gabrani and Ajay Kumar Bishnoi among othersThe EDrsquos case filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA stems from a first information report FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI in February In the FIR the promoters are accused of siphoning off loan funds to their linked entities resulting in significant losses to multiple banksAccording to sources the Gurugram Zonal Office of the ED carried out searches at five premises in the National Capital Region NCR three in Chennai and one in Bengaluru as part of the investigationAs per case details the total fraud reported by the consortium of complainant banks stands at Rs 34608 crore includingRs 16807 crore mdash Punjab National Bank PNBRs 7781 crore mdash ICICI BankRs 4449 crore mdash Kotak Mahindra BankRs 5571 crore mdash Union Bank of IndiaThe fraud is alleged to have taken place between 2009 and 2015HPCL a company operating in the power transmission and distribution sector was engaged in designing manufacturing and executing turnkey projects for power transmission linesIt is alleged that the promoters and directors secured credit facilities from PNB the lead bank of the consortium totalling Rs 16571 crore under a multiple banking arrangementDespite several restructurings including the conversion of invoked bank guarantees into Funded Interest Term Loans FITL HPCL defaulted on its payments and was declared a NonPerforming Asset NPA on March 31 2015 The account was later reported as a fraud to the RBI on June 13 2024 the ED saidA forensic audit revealed that loan funds were siphoned off through transactions with related group entities such asAvadh TransformersGET PowerRevolution InfocomTecproEngg among othersThese transactions allegedly involved fictitious job work unpaid receivables and circular transactions Several large advances and sale invoices remained unrecovered for years suggesting nongenuine trade dealingsAccording to the ED HPCL used related entities to divert funds and misappropriate assets leading to a significant erosion of creditor interestsWith PTI inputs