ED raids premises of Vuenow Group, seizes Rs 73.72-cr assets

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Jalandhar zonal office, has conducted a search operation on 10 residential and business premises across the states of Punjab, Haryana and Maharashtra in connection with a money laundering investigation related to the Vuenow Group.

During the search operation, Rs 23.90 lakh in cash, electronic devices and incriminating records were seized. Besides, shares of Rs 63.49 crore and immovable properties worth Rs 9.99 crore have been frozen. In total, assets worth Rs 73.72 crore have been seized and frozen.

The searches were conducted on the premises of Vuenow Infratech Limited, its director Rahul Anand Bhargav and other persons/entities under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The ED initiated the investigation on the basis of various FIRs registered under the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita by the Noida police and Punjab Police.

During the investigation, it was found that Sukhwinder Singh Kharour, the CEO and founder of the Vuenow Group, in connivance with other accused, orchestrated the multi-thousand crore rupees cloud particle scam and thereby lured people to invest their money.

Earlier, searches were conducted under provisions of the PMLA on November 26, January 17 and February 24 last. Properties worth Rs 178.12 crore were attached vide a provisional attachment order on February 6. During the investigation, accused Sukhwinder Singh Kharour and Dimple Kharour were arrested on February 28 while Arif Nisar was arrested on February 24. All are in judicial custody. Subsequently, a prosecution complaint against them and others was filed before the PMLA Special Court on April 14.