Rourkela. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) of Kolkata has arrested accused Arun Sahu, Alok Sahu, Chetan Prakash and Joseph Stalin under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in connection with online gaming and betting fraud based on Feewin app. In addition to this, ED has initiated an investigation on the basis of FIR registered by Kashipur Police Station, Kolkata, under various sections of IPC, 1860 against unknown persons responsible for fraud and conspiracy through online gaming app ‘Fewin’. ED has provided this information by issuing a press release on Friday.
Chinese citizens operated the app with the help of the defendant.
ED’s investigation revealed that some Chinese nationals were operating the app with the help of Indian nationals. The funds collected from innocent online gamers through the Feevin app were deposited into the bank accounts of several people. Who allowed the app owners to use their accounts in exchange for a commission. Arun Sahu and Alok Sahu, residents of Banai, Odisha, worked as “top-up persons” and converted the money received from the Feevin app into cryptocurrency in their bank accounts. They deposited the cryptocurrency obtained using the Feevin app into the wallets of Chinese nationals on a foreign crypto exchange called Binance and laundered it.
Software engineers from Bihar and Chennai helped
Chetan Prakash, an engineer based in Patna, Bihar, played a major role in the money laundering activities by helping these “top-up persons” convert INR into cryptocurrency (USDT). Joseph Stalin, a software engineer based in Chennai, helped Pai Pengyun, a Chinese national from Gansu province, become a co-director of Studio 21 Pvt Ltd, a company owned by him. Pai Pengyun used the Studio 21 Pte Ltd account for massive payment services related to the app, which initially helped him gain the trust of players and trigger larger bets by the app users. The funds used for the payment services were received by Joseph Stalin in the form of cryptocurrency from a wallet controlled by Chinese traders to his Binance account. In return, they converted the USDT cryptocurrency into Indian rupees by selling it through P2P mode on Binance.
An amount of Rs 400 crore was raised through fraud.
The ED investigation further revealed that an amount of Rs 400 crore was collected through the Feewin app-based scam. After that, it was deposited in eight Binance wallets in the name of Chinese nationals. The IP access logs revealed that these wallets were operated from China. The Chinese nationals communicated and gave instructions to the above-mentioned accused through digital communications, especially Telegram groups. Since the above-mentioned four persons, Arun Sahu, Alok Sahu, Chetan Prakash and Joseph Stalin, played an active role in the Feevin app-based scam and were found involved in the offence of money laundering, therefore, all of them have been arrested and booked by the Special Court (PMLA). Filed earlier. The court sent all the four accused to the custody of the ED for a period of 14 days.
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