The prime accused in the money laundering case of Rs 1,478 crore Ritesh Jain was produced before the court on Monday and sent to police custody till March 27. Jain, a diamond trader, was arrested on Sunday after he landed at Mumbai international airport from Dubai.
Jain who fled from the country in December 2016 has allegedly laundered Rs 1478 crore through a web of shell companies. He and his father Amritlal Jain, who died last year, owned a leading jewellery company called Auro Gold Jewellery Private Limited in Mumbai which had a turnover of Rs 3,672 crore in 2013-14.
According to the Mumbai police a Look Out Circular (LOC) was issued on Ritesh Jain when he fled from the county. When he landed at the city airport on Sunday, the immigration authority alerted the Mumbai police. The LT Marg police who has a case of cheating and criminal conspiracy case of 2017 registered against Jain arrested him.
Since Jain returned from Dubai, he had undergone a screening test and after doctors at the airport declared him negative for coronavirus he was arrested by the police.Enforcement Directorate (ED) which has a case under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Jain, said we cannot arrest him since he had taken a stay order from Court in December 2019 in PMLA case.
According to the officials Jain and his father Amritlal allegedly deposited Rs 100 crore in shell companies after demonetisation. The case was first registered with NM Joshi Marg police station in November 2016 and later it was transferred to ED.In December 2016, ED conducted searches at the offices of a company owned by Ritesh Jain, Rajeshwar Export, a Mumbai based Diamond Company with a business of import and export. ED then attached 10 immovable properties, gold jewellery and diamonds worth Rs 58.16 crore that belonged to Ritesh and his father.
According to the ED officials, soon after the demonetisation in November 2016, Rajeshwar Export had allegedly diverted around Rs 700 crore to Hong Kong, the ED also found documents which revealed that the company had diverted more than Rs 1400 crore between December 2015 to November 2016.
