ED Freezes Bitcoins Worth Over Rs. 12 Crore From Gaming Platform E-Nuggets

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has frozen Bitcoins equivalent to worth Rs. 12.83 crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after an investigation being conducted against a man named Aamir Khan and others relating to the mobile gaming application — E-nuggets.

According to the enforcement agency, it initiated an investigation on the basis of an FIR dated February 15, 2021, filed under various sections of IPC by Park Street Police Station, Kolkata Police, against Aamir Khan and others, based on a complaint filed by Federal Bank authorities, in the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Calcutta.

Aamir Khan, son of Nesar Ahmed Khan, launched a mobile gaming application E-Nuggets, which the ED said was designed for the purpose of defrauding the public.

“Further, after collecting the sizable amount of money from the public, all of a sudden withdrawal from the said App was stopped on one pretext or the other. There after, all data including profile information was wiped off from the said App servers,” the agency said on Wednesday.

The agency’s investigation revealed that the accused was transferring part of the amount illegally earned through the gaming app (E-Nuggets) to overseas by using Crypto Currency Exchange.

“It was found that one such dummy account in the name of Sima Naskar, Proprietor of Pixal Design was opened in the WazirX, which was used to purchase the cryptocurrencies/crypto assets. Thereafter, the said cryptocurrencies were further transferred to another account in another Crypto Exchange namely ‘Binance’,” it said.

It was reported earlier this month that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has raided the promoters of a Kolkata-based mobile gaming app company. The officials have recovered cash over Rs. 7 crore during the raid, as informed, which was a part of a money-laundering investigation. The gaming app titled E-Nuggets and its promoter, identified as Aamir Khan and others, were investigated by the ED after an FIR was filed against the company. The ED revealed about the raid through a tweet.