According to police sources, investigators traced around ₹315 crore from various cyber fraud cases to bank accounts linked to shell companies owned by the Ruia family. The police have registered the case suo motu after uncovering suspicious transactions during an ongoing probe.
A raid was conducted on Friday at Ruia’s residence. Ruia, who once owned Jessop and Dunlop, had earlier faced government attempts to take over his non-functional companies. Attempts to contact him for a response were unsuccessful.
Police said data from the National Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) showed 1,379 complaints linked to these shell companies as of October 31, including over 100 from Bengal.
“During the probe, we found that victims were duped through investment scams, digital arrest schemes, and other online frauds,” said a senior officer.
One case revealed that fraud money was funneled through an account belonging to Hughli Machineries Pvt Ltd, before being moved to other linked accounts. Investigators discovered that 544 complaints involving ₹97 crore were tied to the company’s bank accounts.
Further checks uncovered a network of 16 firms with 11 common directors, including Gain E Commerce, Melrose Creation Pvt Ltd, Dahisar Traders Pvt Ltd, and Xettle Technologies Pvt Ltd.
“These directors control 186 companies across India, with 147 registered in Kolkata. Of these, 73 share the same address — 9, Ezra Street, Kolkata — but no offices were found there,” the officer added.
The names of Pawan Ruia, Sarita Ruia, Raghav Ruia, Pallavi Ruia, and Sakshi Ruia have emerged as alleged beneficiaries. Investigators claim that money from 23 separate cyber frauds was directly transferred into their accounts.
Ruia was earlier arrested in 2016 in connection with the alleged theft of railway equipment from the Jessop factory.
Police said the investigation is ongoing to trace the full extent of the financial network and recover the defrauded funds.
Tags:
Cybercrime
