Ranchi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested three people on charges of laundering Birendra Ram’s black money. These include Neeraj Mittal, associate of CA Mukesh Mittal of Delhi, hawala businessman Ramprakash Bhatia and Tara Chand, who formed a company with the help of fake Aadhaar and PAN. ED arrested Neeraj Mittal after catching him from Delhi and bringing him to Ranchi. At the same time, Tara Chand was called to Ranchi and arrested, while hawala businessman Ram Prakash Bhatia was caught in Delhi and brought to Ranchi. After this he was arrested on Saturday night.
Neeraj Mittal produced in PMLA court
Neeraj Mittal, who was arrested late on Friday night, was produced in the PMLA court on Saturday. The court fixed the date of hearing on Monday on the issue of five days remand sought by ED. Also sent him to judicial custody. Ram Prakash Bhatia and Tarachand will be produced in the PMLA court on Sunday. Neeraj Mittal had fled the house after getting the ED’s summons. The ED traced the vehicle from which he fled from the CCTV footage. After this, on the basis of the information received from the driver, he was caught from Delhi and brought to Ranchi and arrested after questioning. ED has already interrogated CA Mukesh Mittal on the allegation of laundering Birendra Ram’s black money. Presently he is not available at his address. His search continues.
systematic laundering of black money
ED found in the investigation that a well-planned conspiracy was hatched to launder Birendra Ram’s black money. CA, hawala operator and the one who created the company with the help of fake documents were found to be involved. A total of Rs 109.18 crore was deposited in the accounts of companies opened with the help of fake documents during the period till the financial year 2020-23. This amount has now increased to Rs 121 crore. Rs 4.29 crore was transferred from the account of these fake companies to the account of Birendra Ram’s father Genda Ram. Investigation is on in connection with the accounts of the people to whom the remaining amount was transferred. After money was transferred from the account of fake companies to Genda Ram’s account, land was bought in Delhi.
Birendra Ram’s close friend had contacted CA Mukesh Mittal
It was found in the investigation that a person close to Birendra Ram had taken initiative to justify his black earnings by contacting CA Mukesh Mittal of Delhi. After this, Birendra Ram along with his cousin Alok Ranjan reached Delhi several times with Rs 20-25 lakh in cash and gave it to the CA. Apart from this, with the help of Mukesh Mittal, a hawala operator named Ram Prakash Bhatia took five crore rupees in cash from Jamshedpur to Delhi and delivered it to Mukesh Mittal. The money sent by hawala traders to Delhi was deposited in the accounts of fake companies. After this, using the accounts of fake companies, Rs 4.29 crore was transferred to Genda Ram’s account out of this amount. Others including hawala operators took the rest of the money as commission.
On the instructions of Neeraj, Tara Chand had formed three companies with the help of fake Aadhaar and PAN
The ED found in the investigation that Neeraj Mittal, a resident of Delhi, is an associate of Birendra Ram’s CA Mukesh Mittal. On the instructions of Neeraj, a person named Tara Chand formed three companies using fake Aadhaar and PAN. To open these companies, with the help of Neeraj Mittal, Aadhaar and three separate PAN cards were made for Tarachand in the name of Sachin Gupta. Tarachand’s photo was affixed on all the three PAN cards. Neeraj Mittal controlled the bank accounts of the companies opened in the name of Sachin Gupta. The black earnings of Birendra Ram were shown as cash income by these companies with the help of fake business. During the ED investigation, Sachin Gupta was searched a lot, but he could not be found. After this, information about mobile phones related to accounts opened in the name of companies was sought. On the basis of the phone number, ED traced Tara Chand. Seeing the role of Tara Chand in this whole process of money laundering, ED has also arrested him.
Companies formed on the basis of fake documents and the details of deposits till March (in crores)
PAN–Company Name–Financial Year–Deposit Amount
DGRPG9506F–Shri Khatu Shyam Traders–2020-21–0.18
DGRPG9506F–Shri Khatu Shyam Traders–2021-22–43.66
DCRPG1369A–ANIL KUMAR GOVIND RAM TRADER–2022-23–23.00
DBJPG3661Q–Om Traders–2021-22–9.79
BDJPG3661Q–Om Traders–2022-23–32.53
