Face2News/Chandigarh/Hyderabad
Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Hyderabad Zonal Office has arrested four accused persons, namely Harshil Nayanbhai Raval, Jaswant Singh, Chetan Munjal and Pranav Pithadia, on Tuesday in 261 crores digital scam, under Section 19(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in connection with an ongoing money laundering investigation into a fake call centre scam targeting nationals of the United States (US). The accused persons were produced before the Hon’ble Special Court (PMLA),Nampally, Hyderabad, and the Hon’ble Court has remanded all the four accused to judicial custody.
Further, it is pertinent to mention that earlier in the same case, ED had arrested Vikas Nimar on 27.07.2026, Tarachand Nimar on 05.08.2026 and Mohd. Irfan Ansari on 10.08.2026 under the provisions of PMLA, 2002, who are presently lodged in Central Prison, Chanchalguda. With the present arrests, the total number of persons arrested by ED in the case has risen to seven.
Earlier, ED had conducted search operations on 15.09.2026 under Section 17 of the PMLA at four premises in Patiala, Pune and Chandigarh, wherein three live call centres, two at Patiala and one at Pune, were detected with around 220 persons working at the time of the searches. During the searches, digital devices along with cash and records were seized. Forensic examination has so far been completed on 79 digital devices, comprising 65 mobile phones, 13 laptops and computers and one data storage disk, which were found to hold the chats, ledgers, calling data, victim records and crypto wallets of the syndicate.
ED investigation wasinitiated in respect of the scheduled offences of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy under Sections 318, 336, 340 and 61 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (corresponding to Sections 420, 467, 471 and 120B of thrIPC, 1860), committed on residents of the US through call centres operated from India, involving impersonation of government officials and use of forged government documents and identity cards.Investigation has revealed that the syndicate operated organised calling floors (fake call centre) in which the staffworked as dialers, bankers and closers.
US nationals were contacted on the pretext of fraudulent purchases or charges on their accounts and were thereafter intimidated by callers impersonating officials of US agencies such as the Drug Enforcement
Administration, Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission and Department of the Treasury, using forged identity cards, badges, official letters and court documents. Under the threat of legal action, the victims were induced to hand over cash and gold to pick-up persons, send cash in parcels through courier services, transfer funds to US bank accounts of money mules and purchase gift cards. The proceeds so collected were converted into Indian Rupees through cryptocurrency and hawala channels and were also routed through accounts in Dubai and other countries.
Investigation under PMLA has revealed that Pranav Pithadia was the owner and manager of the Patiala calling floors (fake call centre), employing 242 staff including 110 dialers, who received the payment approvals and settlements and directed movement of the illegal earned proceeds through US mule accounts and Dubai accounts.
Harshil Nayanbhai Raval maintained the master accounts of the operation at fake call centres, recording the profits out of the earning of fake call centres, partners’ shares and remittances of PoC to Dubai, and invested the proceeds in properties. Jaswant Singh coordinated cash pick-ups from victims in the US through pick-up teams and parcels, routing the cash to the network for conversion into Indian Rupees through tokens and hawala.
Chetan Munjal, a 25% partner of M/s Rabditta Corporates, which runs the Kala Ghoda restaurants which received proceeds of crime of Rs. 23.19 lakh, provided the protection to the call centre and received the funds (out of PoC) for the said call centres.
The WhatsApp groups of the calling floors record 927 ‘approved’ collections of about US$ 27.39 million (about Rs. 261 crore) between July 2025 and September 2026, received from victims as gold, cash pick-ups, cash parcels sentthrough courier, wire transfers, Bitcoin and gift cards.
The seized devices further record 397 US bank accounts held in at least 15 US banks, including Wells Fargo (313 accounts), SSB Bank, Bank of America, Thread Bank, Column N.A. and Lead Bank, into which victims were made to wire or deposit money.
These accounts were held by recruited money mules, by victims whose accounts had been taken over, or in stolen or synthetic identities; in four cases the online banking log-in details of the victims were also found.
ED investigation is continuing to identify further Proceeds of Crime, trace the money trail, and ascertai ED investigation is continuing to identify further Proceeds of Crime, trace the money trail, and ascertain the involvement of other persons/entities in the offence of money laundering. Further investigation is under progress/
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