The Enforcement Directorate received seven-day custody of two accused in a Ponzi scheme case involving MSS & Healthcare Ayurvedic Trust and others in Jharkhand’s Argora. The trust had allegedly siphoned off over ₹10 crore.
The accused have been identified as Rakesh Kumar Poddar and Mukesh Kumar Poddar. They were earlier avoiding appearances before the court, where the ED had filed a charge sheet against them under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in March. The court issued non-bailable warrants against them, following which the agency arrested them. The accused were kept in judicial custody. On the ED’s request, the court granted custody for seven days.
The ED probe is based on the FIRs and charge sheets filed by the Jharkhand Police. It was alleged that the trust’s chairman, Gorakhnath Bhagat, ran a Ponzi scheme through which he collected money from small-time investors on the pretext of phenomenal returns.
In the same case, the agency has attached ₹2.28 crore kept in bank accounts. The attachment orders have been confirmed by the PMLA Adjudicating Authority.