Jharkhand man gets 3 years jail for robbing people via fraud phone calls
Feb 01, 2024
New Delhi [India], February 1 : A Ranchi special court has sentenced a man who robbed gullible people of their hard-earned money through fraud phone calls, to three years of rigorous imprisonment in connection with a cybecrime money laundering case, officials said on Thursday.
The special PMLA court has also imposed Rs 2 lakh as fine under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, Enforcement Directorate officials said today.
As per the ED, the residence of the accused, namely Santosh Yadav was raided on September 11 in 2018.
"ED has filed the Prosecution Complaint on August 29, 2022, before Special (PMLA) Court, Ranchi, against the accused Santosh Yadav, wherein trial was expedited in a fast-track mode, as a result, the whole trial got completed within 17 months and Special(PMLA) Court, Ranchi sentenced the said accused to three years of rigorous imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakhs on him under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002," the agency said in a statement.
ED initiated an investigation on the basis of FIR and charge sheet filed by Jharkhand Police against Yadav for commission of an offence under various sections of IPC, 1860 and Information Technology Act, 2000.
During the course of investigation by ED, a search was also conducted under section 17(1) of PMLA, 2002 at the premise of accused Santosh Yadav on September 11, 2018, during which four mobile phones and 17 SIM Cards along with some incriminating evidence were seized.
"Further, this directorate filed the said Prosecution Complaint under the provisions of PMLA, 2002, against accused Santosh Yadav," it added.
It was alleged in the prosecution complaint filed by the ED that Yadav used to cheat innocent people by posing as bank official and illegally withdrawing and transferring money from their bank accounts.
"Such proceeds of crime were layered through different bank accounts and mobile wallets, and were subsequently withdrawn in cash," the statement read.
Further, the court has convicted Santosh Yadav of being guilty of offences of money laundering as defined under Section 3 and punishable under Section 4 of the act.
"The court has also ordered for confiscation of proceeds of crime of Rs. 15,24,500 under section 8(5) of the PMLA, 2002," the ED said.
