The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached properties worth ₹2.96 crore in the Axis Bank demonetised currency conversion case. The properties belong to Puneet Jain, Hemraj Singh, Vinod Deshmukh, Rajeev Singh Kushwaha, Mehfooz Khan, Pravesh Kumar Gandhi and others, according to the ED.

The ED had initiated an investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Mohit Garg, Raj Kumar Sharma and Devendra Kumar Jha, on the basis of an FIR by the Delhi Police. The Delhi police had seized ₹3.70 crore in the form of demonetised ₹1,000 notes.

Investigations revealed that on announcement of demonetisation policy, Mohit Garg, Nitin Gupta, Vineet Gupta, Shobhit Sinha and Axis Bank officials used shell companies/firms namely Beagle Marketing, Sunrise Trading Co. R D Traders, Himalayan Traders of Rajeev Singh Kushwaha for illegal exchange of demonetised currency belonging to Vinod Deshmukh, Puneet Jain, Hemraj Singh, Pravesh Kumar Gandhi and others.

“The accused used to collect demonetised form of currency from different persons and deposited them in to the account of shell firms/ companies operated by Rajeev Singh Kushwaha. This was done with the help of Axis Bank officials,” the ED said.

“The amount deposited in these sell companies/firm were further transferred to the account of different bullion traders for buying gold. Thus, they converted demonetised currency into gold/RTGS form on commission basis and illegally exchanged demonetized currency in to gold. Investigation also revealed that demonetized currency worth of ₹40 crore of different persons was converted in this manner,” the ED said.

According to the ED, Mohit Garg and Rajeev Singh Kushwaha illegally earned commission at the rate of 15 per cent of the total amount deposited in the account of shell firms.

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