In accordance with the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached 11 immovable assets, located in various locations in Uttar Pradesh, that belong to Shantanu Gupta, Shashank Gupta, Abdul Wahab Yasir, Mohit Haldar, Puneet Dubey, and others. These assets include flats, residential houses, agricultural land, and cryptocurrency valued at Rs. 3.24 crore. The case in question is M/s Hatsh Telecom and others.
Based on a case against M/s Hatsh Telecom and others that the Narcotics Control Bureau, Lucknow Zonal Unit, had filed, the ED opened an investigation.
ED investigation revealed that Shantanu Gupta, Shashank Gupta, Abdul Wahab Yasir, Mohit Haldar, Puneet Dubey, and others were running a narcotics business through a call centre in Lucknow in the guise of software-related Businesses through 9 bogus companies viz. M/s Epitome Telecommunications Pvt.Ltd, M/s Hatsh Telecom Private Limited, M/s Jeo Pardy Telecom Pvt. Ltd., M/s Morpheus Telecom Pvt. Limited, M/s Sky Dreams Telecomm. Pvt. Ltd., M/s Sky High Telecommunication, M/s CG Telecallers Private Limited, M/s YS Telecom Private Limited & M/s 99 Style Retail Pvt. Ltd.
They used the call centre to phone their customers in the United States and receive orders for psychotropic substances, which were then transferred to Sagar Asthana and Puneet Dubey, who subsequently shipped them as parcels to their consumers in the United States via Indian Post.
So far, the ED investigation has found that all of the linked properties were purchased with revenues from the crime of trafficking drugs and psychotropic substances into the United States between 2013 and 2017. The aforesaid companies got a total of Rs 23.67 crore in approximately 43 bank accounts through this method.
The directors of these firms promptly siphoned off these monies in order to acquire properties in various areas. More research is being conducted.
