New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has searched 11 locations across five states in connection with an anti-money laundering case in a digital arrest scam in which Ludhiana-based industrialist S P Oswal lost more than Rs 7 crore, officials said on Thursday.
The searches were conducted on Monday at 11 locations in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Assam under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
“Various incriminating documents and digital devices were recovered and seized during search proceedings,” an ED spokesperson said in a statement.
The ED had arrested Rumi Kalita from Assam on Tuesday after it surfaced that she allegedly offered her mule account for transferring funds in the case.
“The amounts cheated from victims were immediately diverted by group of persons in various mule accounts and credentials of those accounts were being used by one Rumi Kalita in lieu of certain percentage of cheated money to be given to her as her share,” the spokesperson said in the statement.
It said various incriminating evidences gathered during the search show that she was allegedly deeply involved in the diversion and layering of the proceeds of crime.
Kalita has been sent to ED custody till January 2, 2026.
The agency had launched a money laundering probe on the basis of 10 FIRs registered by various police authorities regarding cybercrime/digital arrest related to the same group of criminals.
“The ED investigation revealed that during the digital arrest of Shri S P Oswal, the fraudsters impersonating officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation and by using forged official and judicial documents forced him to transfer Rs 7 crore in the various accounts out of which Rs 5.24 crore were recovered from the accounts and were transferred back,” the ED spokesperson said.
The agency said the remaining funds were transferred to various mule accounts maintained in the name of various entities and persons — labourers and delivery boys — which were either further diverted or withdrawn in cash immediately.
Earlier, another round of searches was conducted on January 31 in the case, which resulted in the recovery and seizure of incriminating documents.
