Ratlam (Madhya Pradesh): In one of its kind incident, Ratlam police unearthed a gang operating shell companies in the name of common people and mobilising huge funds into different bank accounts that were opened in the name of common people.
The police have arrested three individuals, all from Rajasthan involved in the operation and are currently investigating the extent of their illicit activities.
Those who were arrested include Tulsiram Ojha, and Yogesh Sharma, both residents of Asind, district Bhilwara Rajasthan and Surya Prakash Tripathi, a resident of Devalia police station, Kekdi district, Ajmer, Rajasthan. Presently, all three were residing at Shaktinagar, Ratlam.
Police recovered 12 chequebooks from different public and private banks, one laptop, and a mobile phone from their possession.
The matter came to light on January 29, when Suraj Chaure, a resident of Indore who currently lives in Ratlam and runs a fast food stall, approached Ratlam police and lodged a complaint against Tulsiram Ojha.
In his complaint, Suraj claimed that Tulsiram lured him into offering Rs 15,000 every month, in return for which he opened a bank account in Suraj's name and subsequently a firm in his name. The accused, Tulsiram got account details, a chequebook, and a SIM registered in the account from Suraj.
Tulsiram lured Suraj to give him money for opening accounts of more people and got one or two more accounts opened in his name. When the complainant, Suraj, became suspicious, an application was given to the bank to freeze his bank accounts.
Suraj, who was shell-shocked after going through the extent of the transaction, lodged a police complaint. Based on his complaint, the police registered a case under sections 420, 467, 468 and 120B of the IPC and took it up for investigation.
A joint team of Cyber Cell Ratlam and the police team from Industrial Area Ratlam was formed by Ratlam SP Rahul Kumar Lodha to investigate the case and arrest the accused.
Based on the statement of the complainant and other technical evidence, the team has arrested the accused, Tulsiram, Yogesh Sharma, Suryaprakash Tripathi. The accused are being interrogated regarding the use of fake accounts. In the investigation so far, about 40–50 companies from different states have been traced through fake companies formed by the accused.
Transactions worth Rs 50 crore unearthed
All three accused have been arrested by raiding the hideouts of the accused in Shakti Nagar. Information about transactions worth more than Rs 50 crore has come to light from the accounts of four people. Apart from Suraj, one person in whose name the accounts have been opened works as a labourer. One works on a printing press and runs a vegetable stall. After this, accounts were opened in different banks.
About 40 accounts detected in other cities
Preliminary investigation has revealed that these accounts were opened only within two months. Transactions worth several crores have taken place from different cities. The police are trying to find out who are the people behind this whole game and what is their real objective. During the investigation, police got information about 35 to 40 accounts in other cities. In other states also, 40 to 50 fake companies have been detected.
Bank officials under question
Ratlam police have also frozen all the accounts opened here. The police have now started investigating this entire matter. The bank officer is also under probing from the police. SP Rahul Lodha said that if there is any suspicious or big transaction in any bank account, the bank officer has to inform the Income Tax Department. In the last one and a half months, transactions of more than Rs 50 crore took place in nine accounts opened in Ratlam, but no further attention was paid to this by the banks. According to police, there is a possibility of big game and big players being exposed in the investigation.
