The Directorate of Enforcement’s Hyderabad zonal office arrested an imposter, Kalyan Banerjee, for attempting to interfere with an ongoing money laundering investigation and for trying to stall the auction of properties attached in the high-profile ponzi scheme case in which Nowhera Shaik is the prime accused.
Banerjee was arrested on January 10 in connection with a probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, and was produced before the special PMLA court at Nampally a day later. The court remanded him to judicial custody till January 23.
The ED has been investigating Nowhera Shaik and others on the basis of multiple FIRs registered by police authorities in different States. According to the agency, the accused had collected investments of more than ₹5,978 crore from the public by promising returns exceeding 36% annually, but allegedly failed to return even the principal amounts, thereby cheating thousands of investors.
The ED said its investigation revealed that a portion of the alleged proceeds of crime was used to purchase immovable properties in the names of Nowhera Shaik, her companies and relatives. Properties worth about ₹428 crore have so far been attached, and prosecution complaints, including supplementary complaints, have been filed before the special PMLA court in Hyderabad.
