Ponzi scam: ED freezes Rs 18.79 cr of Hyderabad company

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said that they have frozen Rs 18.79 crore held in 18 bank accounts of a Hyderabad-based company Multyjet Trade Pvt Ltd, its promoter director Tekula Mukthiraj and others in a PMLA case.

The ED initiated investigation under PMLA on the basis of an FIR registered by Central Crime Station, Hyderabad against Multyjet Trade Pvt Ltd, Tekula Mukthiraj and others for indulging in fraudulent multi-level marketing and investment schemes.

"Investigation under PMLA revealed that Multyjet Trade Pvt Ltd, Tekula Mukthiraj and others duped general public in the guise of an investment scheme. For this, a website by the name www.multyjettrade.com was created on which the victims were shown their virtual accounts to give an impression that they were earning profits from commodity trading. In this manner, Multyjet Trade Pvt Ltd collected more than Rs 100 crore from general public in a short span of 3-4 months between August 2022 and November 2022 in Ponzi scheme," the ED said.

Initially, Multyjet Trade Pvt Ltd provided returns on the money invested by the public. However, over a period of time, they stopped responding to the investors and eventually closed their operations. Tekula Mukthiraj, in connivance with his associates, routed the proceeds of crime in his and his wife's bank accounts as well as the bank accounts of firms controlled by him namely, TMR Infra and Developers, Real Life Infra and Developers and Radhe Radhe Krishna Infra and Developers.

Further investigation in the matter is on.