Noida Ponzi Scam: After Bank Officer’s Arrest, More Details Emerge

Atul Mishra has been accused of stashing around Rs. 1,000 crore for Anubhav Mittal’s Ablaze Info Solutions. (Photo: PTI)

Atul Mishra, a business relationship manager with Yes Bank, was arrested by a Special Investigating Team (SIT) of Uttar Pradesh Police on 9 February in connection with Anubhav Mittal’s Noida-based ‘cash-for-likes’ scam.

According to SP Rajeev Narayanan of Western Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF), he has been accused of stashing around Rs. 1,000 crore for Ablaze Info Solutions.

Mittal-owned Ablaze Info Solutions owns Social Trade, a web portal where users were asked to invest money and given 100 links to click a day; earning Rs 5 for a link. However, complainants alleged non-payment and accused Social Trade of being a fraud.

A criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has been registered by the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) office in Lucknow. Mishra is the fourth arrest in the investigation, after founder Anubhav Mittal, CEO Shreedhar Prasad and Mahesh Kumar was arrested by Special Task Force (STF) on 2 February.

Mishra was produced before a court on Thursday, after which he was sent to judicial custody. Mittal allegedly owned two accounts in the bank where Mishra worked.

Mishra Tipped Off Mittal Against Police Inquiry

After Anubhav Mittal’s arrest it was suspected that a majority of funds the company obtained may have been transferred abroad. According to NDTV, the police have been able to trace only Rs. 524 crore — Rs 480 crore in Canara Bank and Rs 44 crore in Yes Bank.

This is where Atul Mishra comes in, according to the police.

Mishra allegedly tipped off Ablaze Info Solutions about police inquires against it. According to Bhagwan Swaroop, a senior police officer, Mishra helped Mittal make a draft of Rs 393 crore — an amount which he should have reported to regulatory bodies, reports NDTV.

Also Read: Scamster or Visionary? Decoding Noida’s ‘Cash for Clicks’ Scam

The police say that Mittal had ten bank accounts in Ghaziabad, and that in December many bank accounts were closed and opened. However, these accounts showed only transfers of money and no deposits.

‘Money Was Transferred Whenever Alarm Was Raised’

Atul Mishra was also responsible for managing Ablaze Info Solution Private Limited’s funds, ensuring no suspicions were raised. According to a report in the Hindustan Times, Amit Pathank, senior superintendent of police, UP-Special Task Force, said,

We have sufficient evidence to support that whenever there were any alarms raised, the money used to get transferred within a couple of hours or new accounts were opened. We have matching details of calls and even the data entries. In a way, he was working for Mittal to help him manage funds.

(Source: The Hindustan Times, NDTV, with PTI inputs)