ED team attacked during raid, one held

A team of the Enforcement Directorate was reportedly attacked during a raid at a farmhouse in Bijwasan area of a chartered accountant in a money laundering case, police officials said on Thursday.

Officials said an Enforcement Officer (EO) suffered minor injuries during the attack, but he continued with the searches after he was given first aid.

The investigative agency was conducting a raid in connection with cybercrimes, sources said. The raid was led by Assistant Director Suraj Yadav.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South West) Surendra Chaudhary said the six-member raiding team included the assistant director and two agency personnel along with two women officers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and a male CRPF personnel.

“Ashok Kumar (CA), owner of the farmhouse, was present at the site during the raid. Yash, a relative of Kumar, has been arrested,” the DCP added.

A case under Sections 221 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 132 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 121(1) (voluntarily causes hurt to any person being a public servant), 351(3) (criminal intimidation) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has been registered against Yash.

The agency said the searches were part of a money laundering investigation against “organised” cybercrimes like phishing, QR code cheating and part-time job fraud leading to duping of many people. The agency said it analysed these cases with the help of the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).

“It was found that an organised network of CAs and crypto traders was at work. Around 15,000 mule accounts were used to layer proceeds of cybercrimes. Subsequently, debit and credit cards were obtained which were used to top up virtual accounts on UAE-based Pyypl payment aggregator and then funds were used from Pyypl to buy cryptocurrency. The entire network was being run by shady chartered accountants,” the ED said.

A mule account is the account used by a money mule, which is a person or business that transfers stolen funds for criminals.

It said “incriminating” material, including multiple PAN cards, bank cheque books, passbooks, pen drives, credit and debit cards, seals and CPUs, have been seized.

“On one premises at Bijwasan, Sharma and his brother assaulted an ED officer and managed to escape after causing hurt. An FIR is being filed. Searches are on,” it said.