Lucknow: After evading summons from enforcement directorate (ED) for at least three times, Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer Niharika Singh, who has been booked under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a case related to ponzi scam, appeared before the agency in Lucknow on Monday.
She was served summons in connection with her role in the Rs 600 crore Anee Bullion Industries Pvt Limited scam.
Niharika, the wife of ABI owner Ajit Kumar Gupta, is presently posted in Indonesia. A 2006 batch officer, Niharika has served as deputy chief of southern Africa division, in Tokyo, and East Asian countries.
Sources in the ED said that she was asked questions regarding transactions which have come under ED scanner and that reportedly used her position to get contracts for her company.
Sources added that the IFS officer will be questioned based on bank details again on Tuesday.
The ED had lodged a money laundering case against ABI in 2019 based on 30 FIRs and complaints registered by UP Police against Ajit.
The UP STF, along with Lucknow Police, arrested Ajit on July 16, 2020. During investigations, Niharika’s role had also come under the scanner. Later in 2021, the ED added the IFS officer’s name in the PMLA case.
Sources said, during the probe against Ajit, some dealings and transfer of money involving his officer wife also came under scanner and now it needs to be verified by her.
Explaining the modus operandi, the ED sources said the company first floated ponzi schemes in various places of Uttar Pradesh through companies like Anee Bullion Traders, Anee Commodity Brokers Private limited, Eye Vision India Credit Co-operative Society Limited, Anee Bullion Industries among others.
“ABI had lured the public to invest in the companies promising hefty returns in the form of plots. The companies even went on to issue post-dated cheques to convince the investors. However, investors got apprehensive when the cheques were not honoured,” the ED sources said.
The firm also duped investors by showing forged documents of land/plots being registered in the name of the companies. But there was no land registered, the ED added.
The ED officials added that the company neither returned the invested amount nor gave any plots as promised.
