Kolkata gaming app scam: Accused operated through multiple bank accounts

Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths, which recovered cash worth Rs 17.32 crore from the residence of a city-based businessman on late evening of September 10 in connection with a mobile gaming financial embezzlement case, has come through some crucial information on how the prime accused, Amir Khan operated through a chain of bank accounts.

ED sources said there come across 147 accounts in five different banks throughout the country through which Amir Khan used to operate his mobile gaming application christened E-Nuggets designed for defrauding the public. The central agency sleuths while tracking the money- trail in these bank accounts have noted hundreds of transactions amounting to lakhs of rupees in a single day, where debits from these accounts were made minutes after the credits to the accounts took place.

It is learnt that while most of these bank accounts were either held individually or jointly by Amir Khan, some accounts held by other individuals were also which the accused used to operate his embezzlement business against a certain amount of commission to the account holders concerned as fee for using their accounts.

Amir Khan was missing since August 10, 2022, when the ED sleuths were recovering cash from the residence of his father, Nasir Khan, at Shahi Astabal Lane in Garden Reach area in the southern outskirts of Kolkata. Nasir Khan, a transport trader officially, had also gone missing since the evening of August 11.

ED sleuths also suspect that besides the mobile gaming financial embezzlement, Amir Khan might have been involved in the business of channelizing unaccounted money of other individuals for converting that one into legitimately earned ones.

"It is hard to believe that the huge cash recovered from the residence was just proceeds of the mobile gaming fraud. And now what are the other sources of funds can be tracked only after further investigation,' an ED official said.

Last year an FIR was filed at Park Street police station in Kolkata alleging that rampant embezzlement is going on through E-Nuggets in which several persons were duped. AA

It is learnt that the users of the mobile app were rewarded with commission and the balance in the wallet could be withdrawn in a hassle-free manner. This provided initial confidence to the users, who started investing bigger amounts for a greater percentage of commission. However, after collecting handsome amounts from the public, all of a sudden withdrawal from the said app was stopped at one pretext or the other and thereafter, all data, including profile information, was wiped out from the said app server.