Jalandhar: ED arrests mastermind, wife in ₹3,558-crore investment scam

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Jalandhar Zonal Office, arrested Sukhvinder Singh Kharour, CEO of VueNow Marketing Services Ltd, and his wife Dimple Kharour on Friday under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in connection with the ₹3,558-crore cloud particle investment scam.

An ED spokesperson said the specific intelligence was gathered by the ED that Kharour and Dimple Kharour were trying to fly out of India to escape from investigation, however, due to an active look out circular against them, they were detained at the IGI Airport, New Delhi, and later both were arrested under section 19 of the PMLA.

Both the accused were produced before the special court (PMLA), Jalandhar, which granted 10 days custody of Sukhvinder Singh and five days custody of Dimple to the central investigating agency.

The ED initiated investigation on the basis of an FIR registered under various sections of the BNS, 2023, by Gautam Budh Nagar (Noida) Police, Uttar Pradesh. The FIR was registered on the basis of information shared by the ED under section 66(2) of the PMLA, 2002.

The ED investigation revealed that Sukhvinder Singh, the CEO and founder of Vuenow Group, is the ‘mastermind’ of the scam who in connivance with his close associates orchestrated multi-thousand crore rupees ‘cloud particle scam’ where the money of the public (investors) was siphoned off by the accused persons for their personal gains. The spokesperson stated that the underline business of the cloud particle, based on sale and lease back model (SLB model), was found substantively non-existent and grossly overstated to cheat the investors.

“The proceeds of crime amounting to ₹3,558 crore (approx. ascertained so far) generated out of criminal activities were utilised for other than business purposes and further diverted by M/s VMSL and group companies in giving high commissions to the channel partners, purchase of various luxurious vehicles, gold and diamonds, routing of funds to the tune of hundreds of crores of rupees through shell entities and investment in properties,” it added.

It stated that further the proceeds of crime to the tune of crores of rupees were diverted into personal bank accounts of Dimple and to various other entities.

On February 7, the ED had provisionally attached six immovable properties, 73 bank accounts and 26 luxury vehicles, valued at ₹178.12 crore of the firm.