The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday filed a chargesheet against Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer Niharika Singh, her husband and their companies in a money laundering case related to fraud worth millions of millions in the name of an investment. A special court in Lucknow took cognizance of the prosecution’s complaint on November 25.
According to the ED, IFS officer Niharika Singh, her husband Ajit Kumar Gupta, Annie Bullion and Industries Private Limited, Annie Commodity Brokers Private Limited and Annie Securities Private Limited have been charged under various sections of the Prevention of Crime Act. Money Laundering (PMLA). The accused has been made.
ED had questioned Niharika Singh in this case. His last posting was the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in Delhi. According to ED, between February 21, 2020 and October 26, 2020, scams and scams worth Rs 110 crore were committed luring people to invest with the intention of cheating them. Due to which the Uttar Pradesh Police had registered 33 FIRs against Gupta and many other persons/institutions.
After learning about these 33 cases, the investigation for money laundering began. The police have also filed 25 chargesheets in at least 12 cases. The agency alleged that Gupta, along with his other associates, extorted huge amounts of money from gullible investors by launching fraudulent schemes such as daily deposit schemes, monthly recurring deposit schemes and fixed term schemes through his property company Annie Bullion Trader.
Investors were promised returns at exorbitant rates of 40 percent annually, which they did not deliver. The investigation found that later, using the account of I Vision Credit Co-operative Society Limited, he started collecting the money taken from investors through his closest associates, who were officials of the said society.
The investigation found that this money was raised from investors in the name of new performance-linked investment schemes. The ED alleged that the money from these investments was never returned and that innocent people were defrauded to the tune of Rs 60 crore. The ED said that the crime proceeds earned by Ajit Gupta were channeled through various Annie Group companies to attract gullible investors.
Not only this, Gupta used that money to purchase various immovable properties like houses, agricultural land, etc. for himself and on behalf of his IFS wife, Niharika Singh, and others. In this case, ED has already seized properties worth more than Rs 9 crore.
Let us tell you that Niharika Singh is an IFS officer of 2006 batch. She has served in many East Asian countries including Tokyo. The main accused in this entire fraud scandal is Niharika Singh’s husband Ajit Gupta. Who was arrested by UP STF in Lucknow on July 16, 2020. During the investigation of this case, the role of Niharika Singh also came under the ambit of investigation. Later in the year 2021, Niharika’s name was also added to the money laundering case.
