Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing the multi-crore mobile gaming app fraud, E-Nuggets, is all set to step into the second stage of probe.
In the second stage, the ED will identify the beneficiaries of the scam through the money-trails of the different bank and crypto currency accounts during the course of investigation.
ED sources said that that their sleuths are almost over with the first part of the investigation which involves the modus operandi of the fraud business through using multiple bank and crypto currency accounts, many of which were hired from the original owners by the prime accused Amir Khan for deposit of collections by duping people.
Total recovery in forms of cash and crypto currency by ED sleuths and Kolkata Police had been Rs 80.77 crore, out of which Rs 36.95 crore was recovered by the central agency alone. Most of the close associates of prime accused Amir Khan are currently in police custody, thus taking the first stage of investigation almost to its end.
ED sources said that now their sleuths are almost all set to enter into the second stage of investigation which will be first to track the other businesses or trades where the fraud proceeds were channelised and the second is to identify the beneficiaries of scam that Khan used to manage to keep the fraud business run smoothly for a long time.
“Thorough examination of the accounts freezed on this count is necessary to track the outward flow of the proceeds. It is also necessary to get Amir Khan in our custody now and question him about the money trail,” an ED official said.
Khan, who was arrested by the Kolkata Police, is currently in police custody and he will be presented at a lower court in Kolkata again on October 8. ED sleuths are waiting for the court developments on that day and decide over its next course of action.