The Special Investigation Team of Himachal Pradesh police completed their investigation in the crypto scam, and a charge sheet was created. It is a list of accusations made against the individuals they believe were responsible for the fraud. The prosecution department has been presented with the charge sheet for approval. The police discovered that the fraudsters took all the money they stole and covertly brought it back to India. They used the Hawala network (an unofficial route via service providers for money transfers between locations) to accomplish this.
The Charge Sheet
Pic Credit- vajiramias
The initial charge sheet for the cryptocurrency fraud was completed by the Himachal Pradesh police special investigation team. To obtain their consent, they forwarded it to the prosecution division. Three men, Hemraj, Sukhdev, and Abhishek, were identified in the charge sheet as the primary perpetrators of the cryptocurrency fraud. A 2,100-page charge sheet has been compiled by the Himachal police’s special investigative squad. Charge sheets for all offenses must be submitted within sixty days, with the exception of those that carry a life sentence or the death penalty.
Opulent Lifestyle and ₹80 Crore Property Spree
As discussed in our previous article about the targeting, victims from Punjab and Haryana have also been deceived by the accused. It is said by officials that the accused in this case have purchased land and residences worth a staggering ₹80 crore in several locations, including Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh. 19 persons have been detained in connection with this investigation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which has already seized property worth ₹19 crore from eight of the accused.
Pic Credit- proptiger
These accused parties have a reputation for leading opulent lives. Rather than making real estate investments, they opted to stay in opulent hotels and often replaced their pricey vehicles. The primary accused in this case are Abhishek, Sukhdev, Hemraj, and Subhash. They said that by making crypto investments, they got wealthy. The findings of the SIT investigation indicate that these individuals were frequently seen traveling to Dubai with a group of people. They invited prominent politicians to their lavish parties, which they hosted in opulent hotels, to give the impression that everything they were doing was lawful and that they were innocent.
In an effort to apprehend the scammers, the Himachal Police has teamed up with other state police forces and significant federal authorities. The Banning of Unregulated Deposits Schemes (BUDS) Act, 2019 is the legislation they are employing to prosecute these offenders.
Conclusion
The hazards and complications involved with using this unofficial money transfer channel have been made clear by the investigation into the money return via the Hawala network. The investigators discovered proof that money was returning to India. To stop people from using this system to perform illegal financial activities, such as money laundering, we need to create new rules and team up with other nations. It is imperative that the government and other relevant authorities devise strategies to put an end to Hawala’s operations, strengthen the laws that prohibit it, and guarantee the integrity of our financial system.
