The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted search operations at various locations in Beed, Aurangabad, Pune, and Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra as part of an ongoing investigation into an alleged Rs 168 crore cooperative society investment fraud involving Dnyanraddha Multistate Cooperative Society Ltd (DMCSL), Suresh Kute, and others.
The searches took place on Last week Friday, August 9, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002, leading to the seizure of movable assets, including bank funds and Demat account holdings amounting to approximately Rs 1.2 crore, along with various incriminating documents and digital devices, the financial probe agency said on Monday.
The ED's case is based on several FIRs registered by various police stations across Maharashtra under different sections of the IPC and the MPID Act, 1999, for investment fraud allegedly committed by Suresh Kute and others through DMCSL, which has over 52 branches across multiple districts. DMCSL was managed and controlled by Suresh Dnyanobarao Kute, Yashvant V. Kulkarni, and others. The society floated various deposit schemes, claiming to provide interest rates ranging from 12% to 14%. It also offered other schemes such as personal loans, simple loans, salary loans, term loans, gold loans, and FDR loans. According to the FIRs registered and verified so far, the estimated amount of fraud with investors is approximately Rs. 168 crore.
The ED investigation revealed that Suresh Kute and others lured unsuspecting investors into depositing money with DMCSL by promising higher returns. However, no payments or only partial payments were made to the investors when their deposits matured, resulting in them being cheated. The funds were embezzled by the society's management through a criminal conspiracy for their personal gain.
According to ED official statement,during the investigation ED found that Funds of DMCSL collected from depositors were siphoned off by Suresh Kute and others for their personal gains to create assets. Funds were siphoned off through various shell entities by layering and the said funds were introduced into 'Kute Group' of companies as share capital/Investment. The funds of DMCSL were also siphoned off to Hong Kong through layering by creating a web of bogus/shell entities, the ED has stated.
The central agency has established that the proceeds of crime generated by cheating DMCSL investors were laundered by Suresh Kute and others for their personal benefit, including the acquisition of various immovable and movable assets. The agency claims to have secured evidence corroborating the same.
