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Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Mumbai will now investigate the multi-crore ‘Dabba Trading” scam in Indore. The state government had demanded the CBI to take over the case since it required financial and criminal investigations at multi-locations. “They have registered a case in this regard,” a top CID official told BS.
A case was registered in October 2013 by cyber cell of state police, later it was forwarded to Crime Investigation Department (CID) for further investigation. As many as nine persons were detained for interrogation and later five were arrested in the case.
The kingpin of the scam Amit Soni and his brother Anurag Soni allegedly obtained a software namely Metatrade 5 from a Cyprus-based software company through illegal means from a Dubai-based Indian, who had already filed a complaint to the Indian embassy there, a CID source said.
The accused, according to the official, designed a conspiracy to use the software illegally by creating a company. All five who have been arrested, the official said, imposed themselves as authorised members of the Multi Commodity Exchange, in the name of AU Commodity, Indore.
A CBI source had yesterday evening confirmed that a case has been registered. A statement of the apex investigation agency also said, “a case against two owners/director of Indore (MP) based company and others under section 420 of IPC and 66-A, 66-D of IT Act, 2008 relating to alleged operation of unauthorized Commodity Exchange at Indore (MP) on the request of Madhya Pradesh Government.”
“It was alleged that the accused persons had been running commodities trading (buy and sell) activities in Multi Commodities Exchange, Mumbai by using unauthorised software and providing User ID and Password to their clients. However, when the clients checked their trading account balance, profit was not reflected in their accounts and even the deposit money were not reflected in their trading accounts. Further, the trading details were also not registered with MCX due to distribution of fake MCX User IDs and Passwords to the clients. As a result, the accused persons had allegedly caused loss of Rs 16 lakh (approx) to their clients as well as to the Government of India by way of tax evasion,” the CBI statement said.
The senior investigation officers in CID had told BS that the accused had registered 162 clients and conducted 12,000 transactions. “The accused had done transactions of Rs 2,2000 crore through their registered company across India during 2011 and 2013,” an officer had said.
