ED attaches property worth over Rs 2 crore in Axis Bank demonetisation case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday said to have issued a 'provisional attachment order' under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) attaching movable and immovable properties worth Rs 2,95,92,351 Puneet Jain, Hemraj Singh, Vinod Deshmukh, Rajeev Singh Kushwaha, Mehfooz Khan, Pravesh Kumar Gandhi and others in Axis Bank demonetised currency conversion case.

"ED initiated an investigation under PMLA against Mohit Garg, Raj Kumar Sharma and Devendra Kumar Jha on the basis of FIR by Delhi Police on the seizure of Rs 3.70 crore in the form of denomination currency note of Rs 1000," said the ED in a statement.

"Investigation revealed that on the announcement of demonetisation policy accused Mohit Garg, Nitin Gupta, Vineet Gupta, Shobhit Sinha, and Axis Bank officials have used shell companies/firms, namely, M/s Beagle Marketing, M/s Sunrise Trading Co, M/s RD Traders, M/s Himalayan Traders of Rajeev Singh Kushwaha for illegal exchange of demonetised currency of Vinod Deshmukh, Puneet Jain, Hemraj Singh, Pravesh Kumar Gandhi, and others," said the economic law enforcement agency.

According to ED, accused Mohit Garg, Nitin Gupta, and Rajeev Singh Kushwaha used to collect demonetised form of currency from different persons and deposited them into the account of shell firms/ companies operated by Rajeev Singh Kushwaha.

"This was done with the help of Axis Bank officials. The amount deposited in these shell companies/firms was further transferred to the account of different bullion traders for buying gold. Thus, they converted demonetised currency into gold/RTGS form on the commission basis and illegally exchanged demonetised currency into gold," said the ED.

"Investigation also revealed that demonetised currency worth of Rs 40 crore of different persons was converted in this manner. Mohit Garg and Rajeev Singh Kushwaha illegally earned a commission at the rate of 15 per cent of the total amount deposited in the account of shell companies/firms. Axis Bank officials illegally received a commission at the rate of two per cent of the deposited amount," added the economic law enforcement law agency in the statement.