Nagpur: Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Nagpur Police has taken custody of Viraj Suhas Patil, a key accused in an online forex trading scam, for allegedly duping Vikram Bajaj of Nagpur and his associates of over Rs 2.59 crore.
The accused Patil, a resident of Dahisar, Mumbai, had previously been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to illegal forex trading activities. Patil had been residing in Dubai since 2021 and was reportedly involved in promoting TP Global FX, a firm that was not registered with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for forex trading. He allegedly used dummy companies to defraud investors and illegally utilised the funds for personal gains. The ED had already frozen assets worth Rs 121.23 crore in connection with the scam.
According to Nagpur Police, Patil, representing ‘IX Global’ (IX Academy Private Limited), convinced Bajaj and his friends to invest in forex trading by promising lucrative returns of five percent to 15 percent. Bajaj and others transferred Rs 2.59 crore to various accounts, including P R Traders, M R Traders, R K Traders, Green Valley Agro, and T M Traders, at Canara Bank’s Kolkata Branch for investment in TP Global FX.
When the investors realised they were being duped, Bajaj filed a complaint in February this year. Subsequently, a case was registered under Sections 420 (Cheating), 406 (Criminal breach of trust), 120-B (Criminal conspiracy), 418 (Cheating with knowledge that wrongful loss may ensue to person whose interest offender is bound to protect), 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, read with Sections 66(d) of the IT Act and Section 3 of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act against Patil and others.
In 2022, the RBI had already issued an alert, warning the public against unauthorised trading platforms, including TP Global FX. Investigations revealed that ‘IX Global’ had used the brokerage services of TP Global FX to conduct illegal trading activities, and Kolkata Police had also booked Patil in similar case(s). He was put in Kolkata Jail.
A team from EOW, led by PI Bharati Gurnule, supervised by DCP (EOW ) Archit Chandak, secured Patil’s transfer to Nagpur. Patil was produced in court, and police secured a three-day remand for his further interrogation.
