Noida ponzi scam case: ED to take custody of accused

Widening its probe, the ED will soon seek custody of the arrested accused in the alleged Rs 3,700 crore ponzi scam case perpetrated by seeking fake social media 'likes' from lakhs of gullible investors by a Noida-based firm.
Officials said a competent court has issued production warrant and has asked the jail superintendent to produce before it the three arrrested accused on February 18.
They said the agency wants to question the accused, owner of the company Anubhav Mittal, its CEO Sridhar and technical head Mahesh and record their statements under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act as part of the probe.

ED, on January 5, had conducted raids on the business and residential premises of the owners of the said firm and others in Noida, Ghaziabad and Kanpur.
Its zonal office here had registered a criminal case under the PMLA based on an FIR of the UP police's Special Task Force (STF) which had first unearthed the alleged illegal ponzi or multi-level marketing scam.
The central probe agency had said the fraudsters allegedly cheated about 6.5 lakh gullible investors of an estimated Rs 3,700 crore, a fraud many more times in value than the infamous Saradha chit fund scam of West Bengal and Assam which is pegged at Rs 2,500 crore.

While the UP STF had arrested the three on February 2, it apprehended the fourth accused, a private bank manager, last week in this case.
The ED had said the accused also "promoted four systematic investment plans offering various incentives depending upon the investment made by the user."
The agency is soon expected to prepare documents and attach the assets of the accused and the firm under PMLA laws to protect the interest of the investors who were allegedly cheated.