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Kolkata: Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has frozen crypto currencies, 77.62710139 Bitcoins [equivalent to USD 1573466 (Rs 12.83 Crore approximately) ] under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in respect to an investigation being conducted against one Aamir Khan and others relating to the Mobile Gamming Application E-nuggets.

ED initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of FIR lodged on 15 February 2021 filed under various sections of IPC by Park Street Police Station, Kolkata Police, against Aamir Khan and others, based on 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 namely E-Nuggets, which was designed for the purpose of defrauding public. Further, after collecting seizable amount of money from the public, all of a sudden withdrawal from the said App was stopped on one pretext or the other. Thereafter, all data including profile information was wiped off from the said App servers.

ED investigation revealed that 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 M/s Pixal Design] was opened in the WazirX (crypto exchange), which was used to purchase the crypto currencies / crypto assets. Thereafter the said crypto currencies were further transferred to another account in another Crypto Exchange namely “Binance”. The balance of said transferred crypto currencies i.e. 77.62710139 Bitcoins [equivalent to USD 1573466 (Rs 12.83 Crore approximately)] at Binance crypto exchange has been frozen.

Earlier during search operation conducted at the premises of Aamir Khan, amount of Rs 17.32 Crore was found and seized from his residential premises.

Further investigation is under progress.