The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Viresh Joshi, former chief dealer and fund supervisor at Axis Mutual Fund, beneath the Prevention of Cash Laundering Act (PMLA).
The arrest is linked to a case involving alleged dishonest of traders by way of an unlawful buying and selling apply often called “front-running,” involving over Rs 200 crore.
Joshi was taken into custody on Saturday and was offered earlier than a particular PMLA court docket, which has remanded him to ED custody till August 8.
The ED launched searches on August 1 throughout a number of cities, together with Delhi, Mumbai, Gurugram, Ludhiana, Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Bhuj, and Kolkata. These operations are a part of a broader investigation into unlawful buying and selling actions that occurred between 2018 and 2021.
The probe is predicated on a First Data Report (FIR) filed by Mumbai Police in December 2024. Based on the ED, Joshi misused confidential buying and selling data from Axis Mutual Fund to make private beneficial properties by way of pre-planned trades. Consequently, traders within the fund, which manages belongings price over Rs 2 lakh crore, had been misled and financially harmed.
Investigators additionally allege that Joshi positioned commerce orders utilizing a terminal in Dubai, routing them by way of numerous “mule” accounts obtained from totally different brokers. The ED claims that a number of merchants and brokers had been concerned on this unlawful scheme, utilizing early commerce data to generate illicit earnings.
Up to now, over Rs 200 crore in alleged illegal beneficial properties have been recognized. The ED warns that this quantity might improve because the investigation continues. It is usually alleged that the cash was moved by way of shell firms and a number of financial institution accounts linked to the accused and their members of the family.
In the course of the searches, the ED froze shares, mutual funds, and financial institution balances price Rs 17.4 crore.
The case continues to be beneath investigation.
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