ED officer injured during raids in fraud and money laundering case

NEW DELHI: An Enforcement Directorate (ED) operation targeting a cyber fraud-linked money laundering racket in southwest Delhi’s Bijwasan turned violent on Thursday, leaving an officer with minor injuries. One individual has been arrested in connection with the case, police confirmed.

The ED raid centred on financial irregularities in relation to a UAE-based payment aggregator, Pyypl, after an investigation into cybercrime-related money laundering. Authorities stated that the accused, Ashok Kumar, and his brother resisted the raid and even attacked the team. A case has been filed in the form of an FIR, and the law enforcers have brought the matter

under control.

The injured officer, part of the ED team, was given immediate medical attention and returned to his duties soon after. The raid was led by ED official Suraj Yadav at a farmhouse owned by chartered accountant Ashok Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Surendra Chaudhary said.

The team, with two women CRPF officers, later called for additional reinforcements, including a male CRPF officer, to manage the volatile situation. During the operation, Yash, a relative of Ashok Kumar, was detained.

The ED has now connected the case to some of the massive cyber crimes, including phishing, QR code scams, and job offers. According to an analysis of the data conducted by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (i4C) and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND), the funds from the said activities were laundered into more than 15,000 mule accounts.

The debit and credit cards linked to the said accounts funded virtual wallets on the Pyypl platform, which in turn were used to purchase cryptocurrency.

The authorities reveal that the complex money laundering network was allegedly run by chartered accountants who took bribes. Investigations are going on at multiple places as the ED tries to unravel the full extent of the fraud.