Cash, gold worth Rs 2.5 crore seized from man arrested for cheating
Bengaluru, Jul 8 (PTI): Gold ornaments and cash worth Rs 2.5 crore was seized from a man who has been arrested for allegedly cheating a jewellery shop owner in Jayanagar here, police said on Tuesday.
With his arrest, police claimed to have recovered 3.16 kg of gold ornaments and Rs 8.53 lakh in cash from him.
The complainant approached Jayanagar Police Station on June 13, police said.
In his complaint, the jewellery shop owner stated that for the past four years, he had been giving gold bars from his shop to a person who runs a gold melting and ornament-making unit in Jayanagar, to make various styles of ornaments as instructed.
According to police, Similarly, during the period from April 29 to June 4, he handed over a total of 8 kg 351 grams of gold bars to the same person.
However, the person received the gold but failed to return the crafted ornaments and allegedly defrauded the complainant.
Giving details about the case during a press conference here, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh said that in this case, the jewellery shop owner had given gold to the accused to make ornaments. He received the entire gold in a period of about 40 days. Afterwards, when he had to return the completed ornaments, he escaped.
The accused was not responding to calls. So the jewellery shop owner preferred a complaint that the concerned person was missing with their gold, he said.
"Based on that complaint, police registered a case and recovered gold and cash worth Rs 2.5 crore. The accused has been arrested and we are verifying if he was previously involved in any other such activities," Singh added.
During detailed interrogation, the accused revealed that while he had stored a small portion of the gold bullion at his residence, he had sold the remaining, police said.
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ED arrests Sandeepa Virk, 'cosmetologist' for alleged money laundering
New Delhi, Aug 13 (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate said on Wednesday it has arrested a woman, who claims to be an actor and a cosmetologist, under the anti-money laundering law in a case of alleged fraud and misrepresentation.
The agency said the purported links of the woman, Sandeepa Virk, with a Reliance Group executive, Angarai Natarajan Sethuraman (President, Corporate Affairs), are also under its scanner. Sethuraman, in a statement, denied any connection with Virk or any transactions related to her.
Virk was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Tuesday after searches were conducted against her and her associates in Delhi and Mumbai over the last two days.
A special court sent her to the ED's custody till August 14, the agency said. The woman claims to be the owner of a skin care products selling website named hyboocare.com, which the ED claimed was a "front" for money laundering.
She and her associates are being probed for allegedly exerting undue influence through "misrepresentation" and "defrauding" individuals by soliciting money under false pretences.
According to an Instagram ID of Virk, she is an actor and entrepreneur and the founder of the said website.
The federal agency said in a statement that the woman was also "in touch with" Sethuraman, former director of erstwhile Reliance Capital Limited.
She was communicating with him regarding "illegal liaisoning", the ED claimed, adding that the searches at Sethuraman's residence "confirmed" these allegations.
"Besides, diversion of funds for personal benefit has also been unearthed during the course of the search action," it said.
The ED alleged that public money worth about Rs 18 crore belonging to Reliance Commercial Finance Limited (RCFL) was disbursed to Sethuraman in 2018 by "flouting" prudent lending norms.
The funds were lent under terms that allowed a deferment of the principal amount as well as the interest, with multiple waivers granted and no due diligence conducted, it said.
The ED claimed that besides this, a home loan of Rs 22 crore was provided by Reliance Capital Limited by "violating" the prudential norms. "A large part of these loans are seen to have been eventually siphoned off and remained unpaid," it alleged.
Sethuraman, in a statement, dismissed the allegations as "baseless". He denied any connection with Virk or any transactions related to her.
Detailing about Virk's web portal, the agency said it purportedly sold FDA-approved beauty products. However, the ED said the products listed on the website have been found to be non-existent and the portal lacks a user registration option and is plagued by persistent payment gateway issues.
A scrutiny of the website uncovered minimal social-media engagement, an inactive WhatsApp contact number and an absence of transparent organisational details, all of which reinforce the finding of "non-genuine" commercial activity, the ED claimed.
"These factors, including limited product range, inflated pricing, false claims of FDA approval and technical inconsistencies, indicate that the website serves as a front for laundering funds," it said.
Another social media-hosted bio data of the woman said she is a certified cosmetologist.
The ED said several "incriminating" documents were seized during the searches and the statement of a man named Farrukh Ali, stated to be an associate of Virk, was recorded.
The money-laundering case stems from an FIR lodged by the Punjab Police.
Sethuraman said that the home loan he received from Reliance Capital was granted following due process and was secured by the property offered as collateral.
