Diamond-encrusted gold and silver jewellery and Rs 2.5 crore were seized from inside a car parked in the garage of a housing complex at Shibpur in Howrah during a raid by Kolkata police on Sunday morning.
The seizure was made in connection with a fraud allegedly committed through a mobile app on the pretext of training the victims in forex trading, officers of Kolkata police said.
Police said the car — an Ertiga — is registered in the name of a man whose brother is a resident of the housing complex where the vehicle was found parked. The brother’s flat was, however, locked when the cops went there early on Sunday.
“We broke into the flat on Sunday afternoon and found several bank documents related to the case,” said an officer at Lalbazar.
“We are trying to ascertain what the man whose name has emerged while investigating the fraud does for a living. We are also trying to find out the role played by the suspects whose names have come up during the investigation.”
The investigation started following a complaint lodged by the regional branch manager of a bank citing suspicious transactions totaling crores of rupees at one branch of the bank.
The police learnt that at least two accounts were opened in the Narendrapur branch of the bank with allegedly forged documents and were used for fraudulent transactions to the tune of crores of rupees.
“Both accounts were opened in the name of a company whose office, according to the documents submitted to the bank, is on Strand Road,” an officer said.
“We have been able to block a transaction of Rs 20 crore through the two accounts. The money appeared to have been earned through fraudulent means. On scrutiny, it became clear that the money was collected from various people by cheating them on the pretext of training them in forex trading. The fraud was perpetrated through a mobile app,” said an officer in the bank fraud section.
Officers said they had found several bank accounts where money had been transferred from these two accounts. “We are following the money trail and trying to reach the final beneficiary,” said an officer.
A case was registered at Hare Street police station against unknown persons under IPC sections on cheating, forgery, fraud and criminal conspiracy. The case has taken over by the detective department of Kolkata police.
