BHUBANESWAR: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Crime Branch arrested another person in connection with fake loan apps case. The accused Ram Shriram Pathade, managing director of Mahagram Payments Private Limited, was arrested from Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Delhi Police and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) assisted the EOW to arrest Pathade when he arrived from Mumbai. He was produced in Patiala House Court on Wednesday and brought to Bhubaneswar on transit remand. Pathade along with proprietor of IWT India, Mohammed Javed Saifi, and proprietor of various dubious companies including Digital Batua and Bacchat Online, Tarun Kumar Dudeja, were providing loans through apps - Koko and Jojo without permission from the authorities.
During investigation, EOW officers ascertained that the borrowers who had downloaded Koko and Jojo apps from Google Play Store were provided Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 loan by Mahagram Payments.The company was lending money from its payout account, maintained with a payment gateway. However, the repayment by the borrowers was being remitted through other shell companies/accounts and was subsequently transferred to Mahagram Payments. EOW officers said about 1,058 virtual accounts were created by Mahagram Payments and all of them have been blocked. More than 1.5 lakh users have downloaded the two fake loan apps and EOW has received over 100 complaints from Odisha against them.
“Mahagram is not registered with RBI as NBFC and it had engaged Gurgaon based firm, IWT India, to forcibly recollect money with high rate of interest from the customers. Initial investigation suggests the two apps are not created in the country and the illegally acquired money was used in hawala transactions and invested in cryptocurrencies,” said an EOW officer.