Police probe PMLA summons calls from ED director's number

The Delhi Police has launched a probe into complaints that summons calls were made to some people purportedly from the landline number of the ED Director in connection with ongoing money laundering probes against them.
As per the official system, ED summonses are either sent by registered post or official courier. No phone calls are made in this regard.
The central probe agency recently filed a criminal complaint with the police stating that a call was made to a Delhi-based businessman on September 5 seeking his address so that Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons under the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) can be sent to him.

Some other cases were also reported.
The "unidentified" calls were made "purportedly" from the official landline phone of ED Director Karnal Singh.
ED sources said the people who received the calls brought the matter to the notice of the agency headquarters here following which an internal probe was conducted.

They said an FIR has been lodged with the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi police by the ED headquarters.
While the call data records of the landline phone do not reflect calls being made to those numbers, the call records of the people who received the calls had an incoming call from the official ED number, they said.

"This prima facie looks to be a case of possible phone spoofing. However, the police are probing," a source said.
Under phone spoofing, hackers cause network providers to indicate to a call receiver that the originating station of a call is different from the actual originating station.
The agency has provided the details of the called numbers and the call records to the police, they said.
As per the official procedures, the summons are either sent by registered post or official courier to the person required for an investigation and no phone calls are made for the purpose.