The main accused in the alleged ₹1,600-crore money laundering case, Vaddi Mahesh, was arrested here on Sunday by the Visakhapatnam police. He would be produced before the court on Monday and sent to remand and the case was being transferred to AP CID, as the investigation had to be conducted not only in other parts of the country but also abroad, said ACP (Dwaraka Zone) P. Ramachandra Rao.
Mahesh was the first among the nine accused to be arrested and the hunt was on for the others. They floated about 12 shell companies and 30 fictitious bank accounts to launder the money.
The shell companies had been identified as Padmapriya Stone Crushing Pvt Limited and Balmukunda Warehouses, both in Vizag, and Lavender Esystem, Wormwoods Technologies, Serikos Exports, Shivkripa Tradelinks, Foxgiove Technologies, Cloudberry Soft Solutions, Primrose Techno Solutions, Merac Esystem, Kaustav Export Import and Delphinium Esystem. All the companies were private limited shell firms based in Kolkata.
Tip of the iceberg
The mega scam was just the tip of the iceberg. A senior Income Tax officer investigating the case said Mahesh was just a tool. What was now needed was to ascertain the source of money, how it was sent out and how it was remitted back. The CBI and the ED were expected to get into the depth of it.
The case came under the scrutiny of the IT department about three months ago, and after a painstaking investigation, it zeroed in on Mahesh and his gang.
Demonetisation
Sources in the police said Mahesh, a native of West Godavari, was living in Kolkata and had shifted his base to Visakhapatnam in mid 2015. Post demonetisation, he had opened 12 shell companies including two in Visakhapatnam and 10 in Kolkata and operated about 30 bank accounts, including 22 in Visakhapatnam, in the names of the fictitious companies.
The analysis of the bank accounts indicated an inward domestic remittance of ₹680.94 crore, between 2015-2016 and of this ₹569.93 crore was remitted to five companies — one each in China and Hong Kong and three in Singapore —towards purchase of customised software with the help of forged documents.
The 3 Gs
According to a senior police officer, the role of three Gs (Gupta, Goenka and Goel) or Ayush Goel (A7), Vineet Goenka(A8) and Vikas Gupta(A9), appeared to be very crucial. During the initial investigation, Mahesh revealed that the 3Gs were the source for most of the money.
High end car exposes scandal
The high-flying lifestyle of Mahesh and his father appeared to be their Nemesis. The recent purchase of a high-end foreign-make car caught the eye of the income tax sleuths and a probe led by Income Tax Joint Director (Investigations) MVN Seshu Bhavanarayana flushed out the gang.
Cases were booked under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and IPC Sections 420, 120 (b), 465, 468 and 471. The nine accused had been identified as Vaddi Mahesh, Vaddi Srinivasa Rao, Achanta Harish, Achanta Rajesh, Prasanta Kumar Roy Barman, Praveen Kumar Jha, Ayush Goel, Vineet Goenka and Vikas Gupta.
Shady deals in IT sector shock many:
Enquiries by The Hindu revealed that Mahesh and his accomplices had not reported to the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) their turnover.
“It was not part of the ₹2,000-crore turnover clocked by the IT and ITES units in Visakhapatnam during the last financial year,” a senior official said on condition of anonymity. Promoters of the shell companies were neither members of the IT Association of Andhra Pradesh (ITAAP) nor the Rushikonda IT Park Association.
