Bhubaneswar: EOW Odisha has arrested another fraudster – Ram Shriram Pathade in connection with the case of defrauding the public through digital transactions. Pathade, Managing Director of Mahagram Payments Pvt. Ltd., is a resident of Sonam Heights, Mumbai. He was nabbed from Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi on Wednesday. He has been booked under Sections 294/506/507/420/467/468/120-B of IPC and Section 66 D of IT Act, 2000.
After arrest, the accused was produced before the Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House Court, in New Delhi and was brought to Bhubaneswar on transit remand to be produced before the Court of SDJM, Bhubaneswar. The accused is director of at least in following companies: Mahagram Payments, Sarsewa Simplified Innovations, Mahagram Foundation, Finnovity Global Payments, Express Digital Money Pvt Ltd, the EOW stated.
Pathade in connivance with Md. Javed Sahifi, Proprietor/ director of IWT-India, Tarun Kumar Dudeja, Proprietor of many dubious/shell companies like Digital Batua, Bacchat Online etc. and some other dubious companies, was indulged in the business of illegal/ abusive digital loan apps like KOKO and JOJO loan without any authority. They provided instant digital loans to vulnerable and needy persons. Once loaded on to a mobile phone, the companies used to credit small amounts ranging between Rs 3,000 and Rs 10,000 to the customer’s bank account.
Once the amount is credited to the customer’s bank account, within a week the customer/borrower is asked to repay the amount with an excessive rate of interest. On denial to pay the high rate of interest, the customer is humiliated/ bullied in many ways. Obscene messages and indecent pictures along with abusive texts in filthy languages are sent to his/her WhatsApp number and as well as to his/her contact list as a coercive measure to recover the loan amount with interest.This process of recovery is so overbearing and humiliating that there are some instances of the customers committing suicide. There has been already more than 1.5 lakh downloads of KOKO and JOJO loan. EOW has received more than 100 complaints from Odisha related to illegal/ abusive activities of illegal Loan app.
“It was ascertained that the victim borrowers, who had downloaded KOKO/ JOJO loan app from the play store were credited small amounts from one company named M/s Mahagram Payments Pvt. Ltd., the MD of which is the present accused Ram Sriram Pathade. The company was lending money from its payout account maintained with a payment gateway. But for repayment by the borrowers, the amount was being remitted through other shell companies/ accounts but ultimately landing at Mahagrama Payments Pvt Ltd. It has been ascertained that there are about 1058 such virtual accounts created by M/s Mahagram Payments through which the repayment amounts of the borrowers are channelized through payment gateway.”
M/s Mahagram Payments Pvt. Ltd. has created the nodal, payout and many virtual accounts and wallets with the payment gateway and thus, using many complicated and technical layers/routs in order to evade the detection of the money trail so as to confuse the Police/Law Enforcement Agencies.
All 1058 virtual accounts have been blocked. Earlier, co-accused Md. Javed Saifi the proprietor of IWT-India and Tarun Kumar Dudeja, the Proprietor of Digital Batua and other dubious/Shell companies have been arrested in this case and an amount of around Rs 6.57 crore lying in accounts of M/s Mahagram Payment Pvt. Ltd. has been frozen. Besides, 41 postpaid SIM cards in the names of various persons to be used in the mule accounts have been seized from Dudeja, the EOW added.
