Kolkata App fraud: Prime accused Amir Khan arrested from Ghaziabad

Kolkata, Sep 24 (IANS) Amir Khan, the prime accused in duping several people through a mobile gaming app and from whose residence the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had recovered Rs 17.32 crore of cash on September 10, has been finally arrested from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh by a team of Kolkata Police.

A city police official informed on Saturday morning that Amir Khan was absconding when the ED sleuths were recovering cash from his residence at Shahi Astabal Lane in Garden Reach area in Kolkata.

However, the police started tracing him by tracking the tower locations but faced difficulties in the process as the accused constantly changed his hideout from one city to another.

However, he has been arrested from Ghaziabad and the arresting team of city police has started the process of bringing him back to Kolkata through transit remand. However, Kolkata Police is yet to specify the exact time of his arrest.

Kolkata Police said that the residence from where ED sleuths recovered huge cash was actually owned by Amir Khan's father Naser Khan, who is a transport trader by profession.

Besides the huge amount of cash, the ED sleuths had also recovered certain documents and a diary from the room where the cash was stashed on September 10.

The ED conducted raids on September 10 under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at six premises in Kolkata.

A case was registered at the Park Street police station in Kolkata based on a complaint filed by Federal Bank authorities against Amir Khan and others.

Amir Khan had launched a mobile gaming application named E-Nuggets, which was designed for the purpose of defrauding the public.

During the initial period, the users were rewarded with commission and the balance in the wallet could be withdrawn in a hassle-free manner which provided initial confidence to the users, who started investing bigger amounts for greater percentage of commission and a greater number of purchase orders.

After collecting handsome amounts from the public, all of a sudden withdrawal from the said app was stopped on one pretext or the other. Thereafter, all data, including profile information, was wiped out from the said app server.