The ED in a statement said that the searches were conducted on Wednesday at 14 locations under the provisions of the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002.
According to the ED, the controllers of the web-based mobile application offered guaranteed returns against the investments made by the public, with a minimum return of 0.75 per cent per game thereby alluring the complainant and other persons to make investments with them.
The agency said that thousands of persons were allured in this way and they made deposits through the app, and when a considerable amount was deposited through the app, the accused removed the application from the Google Play Store.
“From the chargesheet filed by the Gujarat police, it is revealed that the main accused (Chinese National) conspired with his associates in India and thereby cheated and dishonestly induced thousands of investors to dupe them of crores of rupees,” the ED said.
“The search operation resulted in recovery and seizure of various incriminating documents, electronic devices etc,” it said.
The ED registered a case on the basis of an FIR registered by the Cyber Crime Police Station at Palanpurin Gujarat’s Banaskantha district against the controllers of the web-based application and others.
ED investigation revealed that there are various FIRs registered against this app.
The said gaming application was created by the accused Chinese national and his accomplices and was available for use from December 2021. It was made available on the Google Play Store from May 26 2022 to May 31, 2022, and the app stopped working from June 2022.
–IANS
aks/sha
