SCAMSTERS INC.

Alleged Video of Swami Nithyananda Paramahamsa

2010-03-22T10:35:00.002+05:30

Swami Nithyananda Paramahamsa from Zombie4eva on Vimeo.

This Years 1st SCAM post

2010-03-21T08:27:00.015+05:30

Its been a roller coaster ride for scamsters all through 2009. Requests pouring in to publish and expose scams throughout India was alarming. Honestly, I wanted to stop publishing them, but 'old habits die hard'.... I just couldn't stop telling the world that our corrupt political netas and other swindlers are growing richer by the day. This gave me a ray of hope, a hope that there are many Satyam's Ramalinga Raju and our OUTSOURCED Nigerean 419 scams which are brewing up rapidly.

I was on the look out something that stands out, a scam that is unthinkable, a scam that we never expected that would blow our mind. Scouring the cyberspace, screen gazing and scanning news papers and surfing news channels, finally bumped into 'Nithyananda' or 'Swami Nithyananda Paramahamsar'. An alleged sex video of him with a tamil actress Ranjitha Menon created furry in Karnataka and Tamilnadu. This one was icing on the cake for the year 2010. Ever since the news broke the country has been wanting to learn more and catch a glimpse of the Swamiji's sexcapades. On Wednesday, Mar 3, Swami Nityananda ruled the Google Trends list with the terms related to his scam occupying all 10 spots of the hot searches in India. The scandal is also a hot topic on Twitter while the existence of a video to such a scandal has sent millions looking for it on Youtube.

Well, all said and done...now coming back to my investigations, I was surprised when I found out Ranjitha Menon was an ardent devotee of Nithyananda. Here are some of the images taken from her personal blog which is obviously deleted.

Well these are my views... you may comment if they were really related in the alleged video.

Gowda Vs Reddy - Who will be Behind Bars in Mining Issue?

2009-12-06T12:59:00.000+05:30

Tourism minister G Janardhana Reddy claimed that Gowda family members would be behind the bars as the Supreme Court verdict in the mining bribery case is likely to be delivered soon. People have rejected leaders like Chandrababu Naidu and H D Deve Gowda and the two have become politically bankrupt, Reddy, who owns Obulapuram Mining Company, which is in the eye of a storm, told media persons in Tumkur.

Joining issue with Reddy, JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy predicted that Reddy brothers would go to jail for their illegal mining activities and looting the country's wealth.

“When I was the Chief Minister they had dragged my name in the mining scam. Now, their involvement in illegal mining has come in the open,” he told newsmen in Hassan.

Kumaraswamy claimed that the poll tie-up in the Council elections between the JD(S) and the Congress would change the political scenario in the State. Their main aim was to destabilise the communal forces in the State.

He alleged that the government had cheated farmers by giving excess land to NICE.

Source: Daiji World

Cops bust scamster cabbie with 16 bank accounts

2009-12-06T12:55:00.003+05:30

The police, on Thursday, arrested five persons - including a bank employee and a taxi driver with 16 bank accounts to his name - in a multi-crore scam. The arrested have been identified as Ramesh Rathod, Vinod Tiwari, Shishir Dev Mishra, Manoj Shinde and Anam Siddique. Police have also detained Amrit Mule - an employee of a reputed bank - in the case.

While Rathod is employed with a reputed bank, Tiwari is the taxi driver, who played the vital role of encashing forged cheques from across the city after depositing them into his various bank accounts.

Like Tiwari, Mishra - a carpenter by profession - also encashed cheques for the gang. Shinde and Siddique are middlemen who obtained blank cheques of wealthy businessmen and companies and handed them over to the group. The six were arrested after they tried encashing a stolen cheque at an Axis Bank branch in Koparkhairane.

The blank cheque had been reported stolen by the owners of Saree Enterprises in Powai. The scamsters - according to police - sought information from bank employee Mule about the balance in company’s account, and then filled in an amount of Rs 2.5 lakh and forged the requisite signatures on the cheque.

The cheque was deposited in Tiwari’s account, but the police swooped in on the group before it could be encashed. Police sources disclosed that the six men are part of a much larger network that has embezzled more than Rs 300 crore.

Investigating officers also believe that there are multiple modules involved in the scam; each having a different modus operandi. In October, the police had arrested six men in connection with the case, thus taking the total tally of those arrested to 12 with Thursday’s arrests.

“We suspect that this is just the tip of the iceberg and several more bank employees and scamsters are involved,” said API S N Bhandge, who is investigating the case. The earlier module busted by the Powai police involved an interrelated gang that deposited stolen cheques in bank accounts opened in fake names.

The gang first prepared fake identity cards like PAN card, voters ID, rations cards, etc, which were used to open bank accounts. The fake documents were also used to procure credit cards, whose bills were never paid.

“While the modus operandi is different, they are all connected,” Bhandge said. He elaborated that apart from using their bank accounts to deposit stolen cheques, the scamsters also lent the same accounts to others operating online UK lottery frauds and Nigerian SMS scams, for a small commission.

“The unsuspecting victims of lotteries and SMSes were given the same account numbers to deposit the money. Once the victim deposited the money, it was removed within seconds,” Bhandge said.

We suspect this is just the tip of the iceberg and several more bank employees and scamsters are involved - S N Bhandge, Asst Police Inspector

Source: Mumbai Mirror

Govt for swift action in Army land scam case

2009-12-06T12:54:00.000+05:30

With four generals and several other officers in the dock for the alleged Sukna land scam, the government has asked the Army to swiftly take the case to its logical conclusion.

"Whenever there is irregularity in any procedure or any functioning, the Service concerned looks into the matter and takes appropriate steps. The defence ministry had directed the Army to look into this matter and take appropriate decisions,'' said minister of state for defence M M Pallam Raju on Tuesday.

Defence minister A K Antony, on his part, has already warned the Army that such cases "not only damage its image'' but also "adversely affect the ability of senior officers to measure up to the expectations of the men they lead''.

MoD and Army HQ will take the final call whether the officers indicted by the court of inquiry (CoI) should face a court martial after summary of evidence (equivalent to framing of charges in a civil court) is recorded against them.

The case revolves around the Army's grant of a no-objection certificate (NoC) in February-March to business groups and a private education trust, which posed as an affiliate of the Ajmer-based Mayo College, to acquire a 71-acre tea estate adjacent to the Sukna military station. The area falls under the jurisdiction of the 33 Corps based in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal.

After the NoC was granted on February 6, an MoU was subsequently signed on March 20 between the Sukna station commander and four private entities -- J F Low & Co Ltd, Sheetala Vyapar Pvt Ltd, Mata Vaishnonodevi Mercantile Pvt Ltd and Akshara Vanijyar Pvt Ltd.

Incidentally, Army authorities had earlier refused the NoC and instead wanted the 71-acre land to be acquired from the West Bengal government, which had leased it to the four entities in 2006, for the force itself.

The officers questioned by the CoI include military secretary Lt-Gen Avadhesh Prakash, one of the eight principal staff officers to General Deepak Kapoor at the Army HQ here, the then 33 Corps chief Lt-Gen P K Rath and his deputy Lt-Gen Ramesh Halgali, as reported earlier.

Sources close to these officers, however, claim they are being needlessly victimised. "There is a scam behind the so-called scam. Not a single inch of land has changed hands. Moreover, the MoU, undertaken to allow the construction of a residential school, was cancelled in April itself after the Eastern Army Command (EAC) objected,'' said one.

Added another, "It's actually the result of a messy turf war raging between Gen Kapoor and his successor, EAC chief Lt-Gen V K Singh (who is slated to become Army chief on March 31, 2010).''

Source: TOI

Spurt in cyber crime keeps city’s cops busy

2009-12-06T12:53:00.000+05:30

When Sri Lankan national Umesh, alias Jatti, conned several people in Canada into parting with their credit card details and swindled several lakhs, he exposed the vulnerability of internet users to phishing scams and fake sites. Umesh, who was arrested two months back, had been running a fake credit card manufacturing unit in Valasaravakkam and had bought credit card and bank information from the international internet black market, which sells such data for as little as Rs 20 for a card. He’s just one of the few scamsters who fell into the police net though.

The cyber crime wing of the city police has been seeing a steady increase over the years in the number of such complaints. Till November 2009, the cyber crime wing received 920 complaints compared to a mere 35 in 2003.

In 2005, the cyber crime wing had got 173 complaints, of which they registered 28 cases. Subsequently, this number doubled to 350 in 2006, of which 17 cases were booked. In 2007, the number of complaints further doubled to 702 and the cyber crime branch booked 22 cases. In 2008, the crime branch got 852 complaints and registered 31 cases.

This year, while the complaints have shot up to 920 so far, 42 cases have been registered so far. It’s the highest since the wing was formed. “We are dealing with hacking of e-mail ids, online cheating, software theft, and posting of obscene pictures, apart from other computer and mobile phone related crimes.

Recently, many Nigerians were arrested for an online lottery scam,” a cyber official said. With white collar crimes on the rise, the cyber crime wing clearly finds itself snowed under a pile of investigations.

Source: TOI

The 17-year-old scam

2009-12-06T12:51:00.004+05:30

The report of the M.S. Liberhan Commission, which probed the demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya, has not left anybody wiser. In fact, there is more information available from other sources. The report appears to be incomprehensive despite the long time it took for Liberhan to submit his findings after so much money was spent and numerous extensions given.

What has surprised many is that Liberhan made no attempt to examine so many people who were in the know of things. Instead, he reached his conclusions that are not only inconsistent but are written in different styles of language across sections. Liberhan must have certainly silenced his critics in the bar who always questioned his ability to write judgements and reports.

The report actually made its way into the public domain through a selective leak to The Indian Express during Parliament session. Understandably, the leakage led to a hue and cry and both the Congress and the BJP accused each other of sharing the report with the newspaper. As according to the home minister’s statement, there were just two copies of the report and he assured members that he had not leaked it. The obvious implication of this was that the leakage occurred from Liberhan’s side.

Though the learned judge denied vehemently any such doing on his part, several BJP and Janata Dal (United) members admitted in private to the possibility of the hand of a Haryana politician in the affair. Many also saw this as a ploy to unite the divided BJP and also to enable L.K. Advani, under fire from the RSS, to extend his tenure as leader of the Opposition. The other explanation was that the report could have been leaked by the Congress to divide a united opposition wanting to discuss price rise, the Koda episode and a host of other issues.

But coming back to the report, a lot was made out of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s name appearing among those responsible for the conspiracy to knock down the Babri Masjid. VHP leader Ashok Singhal on Friday did confirm that Vajpayee was associated with the Ram Janmabhoomi movement even if there was nothing to suggest his direct involvement. In any case, he was the biggest beneficiary of the movement since he went on to become the Prime Minister for six-and-a-half years over two terms.

Singhal, incidentally, has advised Advani to refrain from saying things like “It was the saddest day of his life.”

The report goes on to absolve P.V. Narasimha Rao, the then Prime Minister. This has been done without caring to examine leaders like Makhan Lal Fotedar who was the only member of Rao’s Cabinet to resign on this issue and who had warned him time and again that the kar sevaks would demolish the disputed structure.

Fotedar, a former political adviser to both Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, later told Rao at a Cabinet meeting on the day of the incident that he was to be blamed for the destruction of the structure. Earlier, the then President Shankar Dayal Sharma had told Fotedar that he got the impression that Rao had prevented Governor B. Satya Narayan Reddy from imposing President’s rule at that time as a pre-emptive step. Liberhan never examined Reddy.

Sources in the bureaucracy also confirmed that even the Cabinet Secretary S. Rajgopal had an inkling of what was going to happen on that day. But the PM overruled him. Singhal has alleged that Rao was sympathetic to their cause. The rest, as they say, is history.

What has surprised many is that the government’s comments on the report are extremely bureaucratic. It is true that with a report like this, there is nothing much any government can do in its Action Taken Report (ATR).

But the anthology of different styles in the Liberhan report is, in fact, a joke on the people of India. Who will ever believe any commission of inquiry after such a shoddy job? In the end, Justice Liberhan has no reason to be proud of himself. Between us.

Source: Hindustan Times

SA national held in fake dollar scam

2009-12-06T12:51:00.001+05:30

A South African national was arrested for his alleged role a racket involved in making counterfeit US dollars. James Lucas, 35, was arrested on Saturday in a joint operation by Prevention of Crime Branch (PCB) and Special Operation Group (SOG) when he was travelling in an auto rickshaw in Chowk Bazaar.

The huge bag that Lucas was carrying raised policemen's suspicion who checked it and recovered a safe with digital lock system from it.

When Lucas was asked to give the keys of the safe, he refused to cooperate. He feigned ignorance of Hindi and Gujarati. Questioned in English, he told the police that he stayed at 8th floor of New Golden Nest at Motinagar, Mira Road, Mumbai. He said he originally was a resident of 28, Church Road, near John Boy's School, Johannesburg.

Lucas said he had come to deliver the safe to someone named Vishal near Big Bazaar at city's Piplod area. The bag was given to him by a person called David.

Police broke open the safe from its backside through welding and found neatly wrapped 42 bundles of papers in cotton with imprints of US flag and $ 50,000 on them. The safe also had a bottle with some chemical, hand gloves and masks. There was a letterhead of United State Aid For International Development Federal Reserve Board, Department of Treasury, PMB 713840, Washington DC, USA, with details of procedure to make currency notes.

The materials that have been seized have been sent Directorate of Forensic Science (DFS), Gandhinagar, for testing.

Police have seized Lucas' passport and Rs 4,823 cash from him. Currencies of a few other countries and a mobile phone were also seized. The police have launched a search for Lucas' associates.

Source: TOI

Mayor seeks CBI probe into bogus MCD employees scam

2009-12-06T12:50:00.000+05:30

Delhi Mayor Kanwar Sain on Thursday sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the bogus employees scam of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). The biometric attendance system of the civic agency has revealed 22,853 bogus employees, drawing a monthly salary of Rs 17 crore.

"The biometric attendance system has revealed that there is a gap of 22,853 employees in the MCD. While I have already written to the lieutenant governor (Tejendra Khanna) regarding this and have ordered an inquiry, I am also seeking a probe by the CBI in the matter," Sain said.

"A CBI enquiry is crucial in this matter because an investigation needs to be done as to who approved these fake employees, who is drawing their salary every month and the likes," he added.

According to Sain, these "fake employees" draw a huge chunk of the taxpayers' money and the issue would not be taken lightly. In the biometric attendance system, a staffer has to place a finger or a card on the 'reader' to register presence.

The biometrric system was introduced in the MCD headquarters in Town Hall on Aug 1, 2008.

Source:TOI

Raja accuses NDA of over 1.6 lakh cr telecom scam

2009-12-06T12:37:00.002+05:30

Telecom Minister A Raja today alleged that the BJP-led NDA government had distributed free spectrum to operators in what he called "biggest ever scam" that deprived the exchequer of over Rs 1,60,000 crore revenue.

Debunking charges that his spectrum allocation policies caused a revenue loss of Rs 60,000 crore, he said not only the then government gave free spectrum, it violated all norms by giving the frequency far in excess of 4.4 MHz to many leading operators and the government did not even get any revenue share.

Raja accused BJP leader Arun Jaitley, who has called for his resignation, of favouring major operators during the NDA rule and also defending one of them in the high court.

"Now there is infighting within Arun Jaitley. His legal brain is fighting the political brain. I do not know what will be the outcome. Whether his legal brain will win or the political one," the minister said.

Asked about demands for his resignation, he replied: "I will not step down.

"Ours is a government that has followed all rules to the letter and spirit by following the recommendations of TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India)."

Source: India Today

Justice Mohan Kumar to Probe RTPS Coal Import Scam

2009-12-06T12:36:00.001+05:30

The multi-crore coal import scam along with the alleged irregularities over a period of seven years, commencing from 2002 in the state-owned Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS) in the purchase of transformers which rocked the Karnataka legislature recently, has been referred to a judicial inquiry headed by retired high court judge Mohan Kumar.

Karnataka’s energy minister K S Eshwarappa announced the appointment of Justice Mohan Kumar to head the one-man judicial inquiry commission and said the probe panel has been asked to submit its report within six months.

It may be recalled that the Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa had announced the government’s decision to refer the entire allegations to a retired judge of the High Court to conduct a probe into coal purchases and transportation of indigenously mined coal from some mines in Orissa.

The Government has preferred a judicial inquiry in the light of malpractices and misuse of public funds which have come to light, Eshwarappa said.

Meanwhile, the minister indicated that the Union Environment Ministry has agreed to send an expert committee to assess the feasibility of setting up a 270 MW hydro power generation unit at Gundia in Sakleshpur taluk of Hassan district.

Eshwarappa said the Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh had informed the State Government about sending of the expert committee to study the pros and cons of the project from the environmental perspective.

The establishment of the project had created a lot of public outcry from local people and environmentalists as it was likely to destroy over 100 hectares of forest in the Malnad region.

A few months ago, Yeddyurappa laid the foundation stone to the project. The Centre would provide environmental clearances to the hydro project only after the studying the expert committee’s report, Eshwarappa said.

The Malnad Janapara Horata Samithi has been opposing the project on ecological grounds. Eshwarappa contended that no talks were held between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments on setting up of power projects in the Cauvery Basin.

The State Government was keen only on augmenting the power generation at Shivanasamudram. So far, there was no talk with the Tamil Nadu government on the establishment of power plants Rasimanal and Hogenakkal in Tamil Nadu and Mekadatu in Karnataka, he said. A year ago, the then Union Minister of State for Power, Jairam Ramesh, discussed the subject with the Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, M Karunanidhi and Yeddyurappa.

Establishment of four power projects in the Cauvery Basin would destroy about 10,000 hectares of forests in both states. The State Government wanted to implement Shivasamudram project on its own, Eshwarappa said.

The State has been facing shortage of power on account of increased demand from all sectors of the economy. For the time being, there was no question of purchasing power from private parties. The demand has been fluctuating between 89 million units and 101 million units per day for last few days.

The Government was confident of adding 5000 MW to the State grid at the end of its five year tenure, he added.

Source: DaijiWorld

ViniVinc Shastry's Yelahanka, Hoskote properties attached

2009-12-06T12:34:00.001+05:30

Forty-nine sites measuring 64,245.25 square feet near Yelahanka, and 39 acres in Hoskote taluk where a township is proposed. The government attached these properties worth several hundred crores, belonging to ViniVinc Group head Srinivas Shastry, on Monday. In a multi-crore scam, Shastry, through the company, had hoodwinked around 2,000 investors of nearly Rs 203 crore.

The follow-up action to get money out of the property was also quick. The deputy commissioner, Bangalore district, has appointed a liquidator, who has already fixed dates for public auction of the sites near Yelahanka. They will go under the hammer from Wednesday and the money will be distributed among investors.

Shastry was arrested by the Corps of Detectives (CoD) in Vishakapatnam in 2005, and the Supreme Court recently granted him a two-month bail based on the assurance that he would return money to all depositors within the specified period.

Monday's attachment of properties, under the Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments Act, 2004, is the biggest since Shastry was nabbed. "The reason for the attached properties being worth several hundred crores is that the 49 sites in Yelahanka and 39 acres in Ekarajapura in Hoskote are fully converted," sources said. However, the exact price has not been estimated.

While other property had been attached earlier, a sessions court, on November 2, had taken serious objection to the Yelahanka and Hoskote properties being left out. The court had observed that the Act provided for an overriding effect in respect of properties held by fraudulent financial institutions falling under it purview.

THE FRAUD

* The CoD, after completing investigation, had filed a chargesheet before the IV additional chief metropolitan magistrate against Shastry and 19 others

* Properties worth Rs 10.94 crore were attached earlier

* Investigation revealed cash transactions of over Rs 203 crore by Shastry, company vice-president G Lokesh and 18 others

* There were 20,184 investors, involved in transactions worth Rs 203,63,41,950

* Shastry had invested most of the money in the share market and lost it

SHASTRY'S GROUP OF COMPANIES

* ViniV-Inc

* ViniV-Inc Foundation

* VinV-Inc Ultra Super Market

* VinV-Inc Properties

* ViniV-Inc Business Solutions Pvt Ltd

* ViniV-Inc Education Trust

* ViniV-Inc Help Mart Pvt Ltd

* ViniV-Inc Times

* ViniV-Inc Matrimony

* ViniV-Inc News Net

* ViniV-Inc Souharda Credit Cooperative Society Ltd

* ViniV-Inc Insurance Solutions

Source:TOI

Sports site sues Facebook for click fraud

2009-12-06T12:24:00.000+05:30

Sports website RootZoo has accused Facebook of manipulating the scale of its pay-per-click (PPC) advertiser program. Facebook's PCC scheme charges advertisers a fixed amount each time a user clicks on their ad. However, RootZoo claims there has been a big discrepancy between the number of clicks it was charged for, and clicks that its own internal tracking software detected.

The filing alleges that Facebook billed the website with 804 clicks on June 2, 2008, while RootZoo recorded only 300 clicks that day. RootZoo's figures are claimed to have come from "Two industry leading software programs that track the number of clicks to its website and where the clicks originated."

In the course of investigating the clicks, RootZoo further claims that it found that hundreds of clicks were coming from small towns in the U.S. on a daily basis between April and May 2008, a rate that "would be almost statistically impossible given the distribution of the American population" and RootZoo's history of traffic from Facebook ads.

The complaint suggests the click fraud is perpetrated by rival sites that want to increase the fees that their competitor is paying and to use up their budget of clicks for the day. Beyond the discrepancy, RootZoo says Facebook doesn't do enough to prevent click fraud shenanigans and doesn't warn advertisers of the potential flaw in its program. It alleges that when advertisers suspect they've become victims of click fraud, Facebook gives them the cold shoulder.

"Facebook refused to take any action in response to these complaints nor has Facebook made available any of its internal data that would allow advertisers to understand the basis for the clicks on the advertisers' advertisements which Facebook claims to have occurred," says RootZoo. Facebook denies the charges against them, claiming it already has measures in place to prevent the ad scamming.

Source: siliconindia.com

Women lab staff script med kit scam

2009-11-16T21:41:00.000+05:30

The arrest of two women laboratory technicians on Saturday for selling costly medical-testing kits of the civil hospital in Kotkapura, Faridkot has ripped apart a thriving racket .

The duo of Kulwinder Kaur and Rajwinder Kaur was nabbed following an inquiry into the racket on the complaint of a SMO of hospital.

They ran this operation by twisting rules to their advantage by entering fake names in records, passing them off as government employees — who are entitled to free tests. In fact they even used names of their family members. Rajvinder showed a large number of tests in her mother, Ranjit Kaur’s name, including a pregnancy test, but put her age in the record as 57.

Sources said they also declined medical tests to many genuine OPD patients, and directed them to selected private laboratories in the town.

After registering a case, police are interrogating the accused to know which private medical laboratories the kits were sold to.

Source:TOI

Army land scam probe: Military Secy to be questioned

2009-11-16T21:40:00.001+05:30

One of the ten seniormost Generals of the Army has been summoned to Kolkata for questioning in a land scam case that is turning out to be one of the biggest probes involving senior officers.

Lt Gen Avadhesh Prakash, who is Military Secretary at Army Headquarters, has been called for questioning in the Darjeeling land scam case. Two Lt Generals, P K Rath and Ramesh Halgali who were both Corps commanders, have already been attached to the Kolkata-based Eastern Command in the same case.

Lt Gen Prakash, one of the seven Principal Staff Officers at Army HQ, is so far the seniormost officer called for questioning in the case where NOCs (no-objection certificates) were allegedly granted for transfer of 70 acres of land to an educational institution that posed as an affiliate of Ajmer’s Mayo College.

Sources said the officer has been called after his name came up in statements given by officers who are currently being probed. The inquiry is looking into allegations that Lt Gen Prakash recommended the Dilip Agarwal Geetanjali Educational Trust that wanted to set up a school on the piece of land near the 33 Corps HQ is Sukna.

The inquiry is probing allegations that his name appeared as the Managing Director in brochures taken out by the educational institution.

Army officials said that while several officers have been called for questioning, it does not mean that they are guilty. “The court of inquiry has been ordered to probe allegations of wrongdoing but it does not mean that all officers who have been called are guilty. If any evidence is found, suitable action will be taken,” an Army official said.

As first reported by The Indian Express, the Army ordered a Court of Inquiry last month into the dubious land deal after it came to light that NOCs were granted against the norms and Mayo College clarified that it had nothing to do with the educational institution.

Source: The Indian Express

One arrested in Rs 9.35-lakh email lottery scam

2009-11-16T21:37:00.001+05:30

The Juhu police have arrested a 27-year-old man in connection with an internet lottery scam. The victim, Neeta Pathak, was duped to the tune of Rs 9.35 lakh. The accused, Mobin Khan, is part of a larger racket and was paid 3% commission on each amount that was deposited in his account, said the police.

Around two months ago, Pathak received an email, informing her that she had won a lottery of .5 million. An unsuspecting Pathak replied to the email, following which she was informed that she would have to pay a processing fee to get the amount. The scamsters asked Pathak to deposit Rs 1.80 lakh in a private bank account, registered in the name of Khan, at Malad. Subsequently, she was instructed to deposit money, totalling Rs 9.35 lakh, in four other banks over a period of two months.

Pathak smelt a rat when she did not receive any money despite shelling out the hefty `processing fees' and approached the police. Investigating officer Gulzarilal Fadatare said, "Khan resides in Malwani and is unemployed. He was asked to open a bank account by an acquaintance, who promised him a 3% commission on each amount that was deposited in his account.''

Sleuths believe that the scamsters might have cheated several others in a similar fashion. "We are trying to trace the person who asked Khan to open a bank account,'' said an officer. "We are going through Khan's bank statements to ascertain if more money was deposited in his account. This will help us trace others involved in the scam,'' the officer added.

Source: TOI

Orissa mine scam could be worth more than Rs 14k cr

2009-11-16T21:33:00.002+05:30

While Orissa vigilance sleuths and mines department officials are scratching their heads trying to find out the extent and dimensions of the mining scam, official documents reveal that the magnitude of the scam could be anything over Rs 14000 crore.

The Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court headed by former bureaucrat PV Jayakrishnan would soon start investigating the violation of forest laws following a petition by Orissa-based journalist Rabi Das.

However, CEC chairman Jayakrishnan said the panel has not got the formal notification of the probe order as yet. "We will decide about the modalities of the probe and the dates after we see the notification," he told The Indian Express.

But the fact is that the scam goes beyond violation of forest laws only. Evidence available with The Indian Express shows the real scam was mining in excess of the limits set by the authorities. This violated the existing environmental laws.

Documents brought under the RTI Act showed that over last 6-7 years more than dozen leading mining and steel companies dug out excessive quantities of iron, chromite and manganese ores in wanton disregard of existing laws and limits. It’s no secret they could do it due to lax supervision of officials of the Orissa Pollution Control Board, Indian Bureau of Mines, state mines department, forest department, district collector and Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Any mining company before digging up even a handful of earth in the ore-rich areas has to obtain a Consent to Operate (CTO) certificate from the Orissa Pollution Control Board which stipulates the amount of ore that can be mined in a year. The limit is specified with an eye on collateral environmental damage that mining brings as the waste and overburden (the earth that needs to be excavated for extracting the ore) is normally 3-5 times of the actual mineral.

When environmental clearance is granted to any mine, the maximum amount of ore which can be mined per year is specified. The quantity of ore that is to be extracted every year is specified in the mining plan which is approved by the IBM. Accordingly, when the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) study is carried out the likely impacts on the local environment are assessed based on the quantity of ore to be extracted every year.

Documents obtained from the Orissa Pollution Control Board and interviews with officials in the State mining department show that the biggest violator could be Aditya Birla Group-owned Essel Mining and Industries Limited. Between 2001-02 and 2005-06, the company mined 206 lakh tonnes of iron ore in excess of its permitted limit of 25.86 lakh tonnes in just 2 mines(Kasia and Jiling-Longalata) of Keonjhar district. By conservative estimates, the total amount of the excess iron ore mined was Rs 4269 crores.

Essel Mining seemed to care two hoots about possible closure of the mines for violation of the OPCB norms. Though a closure notice was issued by the OPCB’s regional office in Keonjhar district on January 24, 2006 for violating the conditions and running two screening plants inside the forest area without mandatory environmental clearance, it did not shut shop. The OPCB also did not press further and did not close the mines.

Ardhendu Mohapatra, the chief residential manager of Essel Mining in Orissa said he was not authorized to comment but added that the company had all the statutory clearances in places. “We have not violated any laws,” he said.

Another major player, SR Rungta Group similarly mined iron ore and manganese in excess of the limit they were allowed by the OPCB. By conservative estimates, the total amount of the excess iron ore mined by the group companies between 2003 and 2006 in 6 of its mines was Rs 2978 crores. Like Essel Mining, Rungta Mines was also not shut in spite of OPCB norm violations. On Dec 18, 2006, the Ministry of Environment and Forests informed the Orissa government about illegal/excessive extraction of iron ore in 6 mines of Rungtas.

A designated committee of the OPCB had also found that excess mining was going on and had ordered closure of at least two mines on March 1, 2007. But the OPCB Chairman at Bhubaneswar did not issue the closure order. None of the officials of Rungta were available for comment.

Similarly, documents revealed that the Thakurani B mines owned by SL Sarda and ML Sarda in Keonjhar with a controlling interest by Jindal Steel and Power Limited mined iron ores in excess of the specified limit worth Rs 1850 crore. Evidence shows that Tata Steel, which has chromite and iron ore mines in Sukinda(Jajpur district) and Joda East (Keonjhar) respectively mined ores worth Rs 1200 crore between 2004-05 and 2007-08.

Even the IMFA group promoted by BJD MP Jay Panda, mined excess chromite ore worth Rs 50 crore in 2004-05 and 2005-06. Officials of Tata Steel and IMFA denied that the companies had violated any provisions of mining and environmental laws.

It appears that even the government companies are no holy saints since Orissa Mining Corporation was found to have mined 9.63 lakh tonnes of excess chromite from its South Kaliapani mines in Jajpur district. During the period between 2004 and 2008, the market value of the excess ore is estimated at Rs 105 crore.

Incredibly OPCB suddenly raised the limits of ore production of the companies in a subsequent year even though the company had violated the consent to operate conditions in the past. No penal action was taken against them. It also appears that OPCB officials never applied their mind to assess the disastrous effects on the local environment by allowing companies to increase their production by 10-20 times from the previous levels.

Orissa steel and mines secretary Ashok Dalwai said he was not aware if excess mining has taken place in Keonjhar and Sundargarh districts. “It has not been proved as yet whether excess mining took place. But we have to verify case by case and see if the companies had got their mining plans modified by the Indian Bureau of Mines. But we are looking into more important facts of the case,” said Dalwai.

This is surprising since the field inspection reports of the Pollution Control Board clearly pointed out the huge scam which was going on right under every body’s nose. Clearly the Mining Department and the Pollution Control Board did not exchange information.

LN Patnaik, who headed the Orissa Pollution Control Board between 2004 and 2008 (when some of the excess mining happened) said he does not remember what happened during those period. “It (excess mining) may be possible, but under what circumstances it happened I can’t say,” he said.

Meanwhile the director of Orissa vigilance, Anup Patnaik said the agency would take several months before it can file a chargesheet. “We are still assessing the magnitude of the scam. So far we have lodged 3 cases and may lodge more in the coming days. We will not spare anybody whosoever is involved in the scam,” said Patnaik.

Source: The Indian Express

Koda scam: Discrepancies in Balaji books

2009-11-16T21:32:00.002+05:30

The money trail in the Madhu Koda case keeps finding its way to a clutch of companies of the Mumbai-based Balaji Group. Officials of
the Enforcement Directorate, who were in Mumbai to examine records of these companies, have found “discrepancies” in documents of the firm.

Several companies of the group — Balaji Universal Trade, Balaji Bullion — have featured in the investigations. During the two-year period that Mr Koda was chief minister of Jharkhand, several of his close associates such as Binod Sinha, Arvind Vyas, Sanjay Chaudhary, became board members of these companies by acquiring a major stake in them. Investigators suspect that fake invoices could have been made to route the multi-crore hawala money.

Sources said the questioning, done by a joint team of ED and Income Tax department, mainly focused on cross checking of documents seized by the income tax department during its nationwide searches at about 76 premises of Mr Koda and his associates.

Already, I-T officials have found documentary evidence of cash transactions by Koda associates. Between November 2006 and December 2008, hawala trader Manoj Punamia made cash deposits amounting to Rs 640 crore in a Union Bank of India account for Balaji Group company, Balaji Universal Trade. Punamia was earlier found to have been involved in transferring Rs 550 crore through the hawala route to Dubai for investments on behalf of Balaji Bullion.

Meanwhile, Manoj Punamia, who played a key role in the transfer of money for Koda associates, was questioned by investigators. It would appear that investigators have enough details to pin down Punamia. Sources indicated that faced with the mountain of evidence, Punamia was ready to turn approver, however he now seems to be reconsidering.

Source: Economic Times

Madhu Koda scam probe may land many netas, babus in net

2009-11-16T21:31:00.001+05:30

The interrogation of Manoj Punamia, the Mumbai based hawala trader who played the key role in transferring the ill-gotten money of the
associates of former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, may lead to the disclosure of the involvement of several other politicians and bureaucrats who too may have laundered their money through the same route.

The Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate (ET) officials have been quizzing Punamia in Mumbai for the last three days hoping he will eventually start disclosing the hawala transactions of Mr Koda. But sources said Punamia is a big time hawala trader whose clientele may not be limited to Koda and company but may include other politicians and bureaucrats as well.

“If Punamia opens up and starts disclosing the details of the hawala transaction made by Koda’s associates, the amount could be between Rs 2500 crore to Rs 4000 crore. But the core issue is that Punamia is running a big time hawala racket. So it’s not only the question of Koda but there may be whole lot of other players from New Delhi and other states who may be using Punamia’s services to transfer their money abroad by hawala route. This will create a big furore in the political and bureaucratic circles,” said an I-T source.

No wonder, according to the I-T source, it could be a scary prospect for Punamia who is perhaps apprehensive that his disclosure may invite even threat to his life .

As for the I-T and ED officials, they have been mounting pressure on Punamia to become an approver in the multi-crore money laundering scam in which Mr Koda is an accused. Even on Wednesday, the officials grilled him in Mumbai but he remained non-committal. “We are still optimistic that he will become an approver. We are trying and will keep on trying but if it does not work, ED will have no option but to arrest him,” sources said.

Source: Economic Times

CBI unearthed scam in post office at Alwar

2009-11-16T21:26:00.000+05:30

CBI has unearthed a scam running into more than 17 lakhs of rupees at Harsoli post office in Rajasthan's Alwar district.

"Two sub post masters working in the post office connived with the two agents Amit Kumar and Kamla Devi, and obtained pre-matured payment of MIS (Monthly Installment Scheme) and FD (Fixed Deposit) accounts of villagers who were the customers of post office for past many years," Atul Gupta, spokesperson, CBI said today.

"After getting the accounts matured for payment, they opened forged saving accounts in the name of these account holders in the post office and misappropriated the amount by withdrawing the amount through forms," he said, a CBI team has conducted search at three locations at Barod, Harsoli and Machedi.

"The amount of the fraud is expected to exceed the primary estimate of rupees 17 lakhs.

Source: PTI

Trio target 60 in foreign job scam

2009-11-16T21:25:00.004+05:30

The Chembur police are looking for three men who cheated over 60 job aspirants on the pretext of getting them employment in Singapore and the case came to light on Saturday after one of the victims, Kaushalkumar Kushwaha (24), a resident of Navi Mumbai, approached the Chembur police. Kushwaha, a welder, told the police that he was duped of Rs 60,000. He had been offered the work of a welder at Singapore.

Kushwaha was to leave for Singapore on November 3. "But on November 2, one of the accused called him up. Kushwaha was told that his journey abroad had been postponed because of incomplete documents. Kushwaha never heard from the men again,'' a police official said.

The accused Premkumar alias Mohammed Sharif (45), Sajid Ahmed (45) and Jaafar (35) offered jobs for positions of welders, electricians, computer operators, air-conditioner mechanics and JCB operators. They used to charge between Rs 30,000-70,000. A cheating case has been registered.

Source: TOI

Hawala scam: Vikash Sinha brought to Delhi by ED; interrogation begins

2009-11-16T21:25:00.003+05:30

Vikash Sinha, an associate of former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, was on Sunday brought to the national capital for interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate in the alleged hawala and illegal investments case running into more than Rs 2,000 crore.

Vikash, has been brought from the Jharkhand capital to the ED's zonal office here, after a Ranchi local court gave the directorate his custody for 10 days.

Sources said his interrogation has begun. The ED has framed charges against Vikash, brother of Koda aide Binod Sinha, under sections 409 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and other provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

"He will be interrogated about money laundering and Hawala deals that he carried out on behalf of Koda and his men. He is the link to the activities of one of Koda's main associates and his brother Binod Sinha, who is still to depose before us," an ED source said.

Vikash has accepted during questioning by the IT department that he carried a cash of Rs 40 crore from Ranchi to Kolkata and transferred the money for alleged hawala transaction on behalf of his brother Binod and Koda, the ED had claimed earlier.

During the 10-day custody period, Vikash may also be taken to places in and outside the national capital for gathering evidence, the sources added.

According to the ED, Vikash, in his Income Tax returns, mentioned Rs 5,66,526 as income during 2006-07 and it quadrupled to Rs 24 lakh during 2007-08.

The ED, while obtaining Vikash's custody, had told the local Ranchi court that he was working with others for laundering proceeds of the crime.

Persons who brought cash for Binod and family members were introduced by Vikash. His finances are not from legal sources of income, the sources had claimed.

Sources said Vikash allegedly filed false entries to the tune of Rs 4.80 crore from companies which exist only on papers and no business activity is carried out by them.

Source: TOI

Truce deal could hamper probe: Lokayukta

2009-11-16T21:24:00.002+05:30

Any truce between chief minister B S Yeddyurappa and the Reddy brothers that involves the transfer of officials could hamper the ongoing Lokayukta probe into illegal mining in Bellary.

"There's a lot of our work on in Bellary and the present set of officials is cooperative. If they are changed, it will be difficult for us to carry out our investigations," Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde said.

As the rift between Reddy brothers and the chief minister intensified, Yeddyurappa had changed the entire Bellary administration, including the DC, DCF, SP and tahsildars. Along with the mining lease scam, the Lokayukta is also probing into charges of illegal mining by the Reddy brothers on 10 acres bordering Andhra Pradesh. At least four or five cases were lodged relating to illegal mining on forest land, where the Supreme Court had stayed mining lease issued to a company.

Chief conservator of forests U V Singh, who is assisting the Lokayukta with the mining probe, had visited the controversial spot last week.

"The first problem was that rain destroyed roads on the controversial forest land. However, Singh said some work had taken place and ore illegally transported. Since the personnel and machinery had been moved out of the place when Singh visited it, we have difficulty in saying who was mining in the area," Justice Hegde pointed out.

"The worrying factor is not finding direct evidence of illegal mining. The present DCF had earlier worked with us when we submitted the first mining report. He is an honest officer and he is cooperating. The new administration, including police and DC in the district, is cooperating with our investigation. I don't know what will happen after these officers are changed," Justice Hegde revealed.

The Lokayukta received a complaint that ore worth over Rs 1000 crore had been illegally removed from the forest.

Source: TOI

Four Indians among 20 charged in hedge fund scam

2009-11-16T21:22:00.002+05:30

The FBI has charged a further 14 people, including two Indians and Wall Street professionals, in a widening USD 53 million insider trading scam, the largest ever such case in the United States.

The latest action brings the number of people who have been charged in the case to 20, including four Indians.

The scam came to light last month with the arrest of Sri Lankan Tamil-origin billionaire Raj Rajaratnam, founder of the Galleon Group founder and hedge fund operator, and five others, two of whom were Indians.

Deep Shah, a former analyst at the Moody's Investor Service, and Gautham Shankar, a former proprietary trader at Schottenfeld Group in New York, were charged yesterday.

Shankar has pleaded guilty, while Shah is still at large.

Anil Kumar and Rajiv Goel (both 51) are the two other Indians who were were arrested last month for allegedly committing the fraud.

Source: Press Trust of India (PTI)

Cops nab 'real estate agent' for visa fraud

2009-11-16T21:21:00.001+05:30

The Kurla police on Wednesday arrested a 48-year-old man who duped several people by offering them jobs abroad and work visas. Mohammed
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Ibrahim Shaikh posed as a estate agent and to get people placed in Dubai, Jordan, UK and the US. Investigations have revealed that Shaikh had been conning people since 2006.

Shaikh's scam came to light when hotel management professional Pappu Sachdev lodged a complaint. Shaikh had extracted Rs 8.5 lakh from the Kurla resident by promising him a job in the UK as well as work visa.

"I met Shaikh through my neighbour in 2008. He spoke confidently and I fell for his lies," said Sachdev. "I took a loan and paid Shaikh. Though he got me a work permit in 2008 itself, he kept delaying my departure.'' Sachdev smelt a rat and approached the UK consulate. "I was shocked when the consulate officials told me that my visa was fake. My family doesn't know about the fraud,'' the 32-year-old said.

Shaikh has been booked for forgery and cheating. Explaining Shaikh's modus operandi, senior inspector Vijay Bagwe of Kurla police said, "Having assured his victims of an overseas job, Shaikh asked them for an advance payment. On receiving cash, Shaikh would hand over photocopies of the visas and demand money for air tickets. He would give them photocopies of the tickets and give them details of the flight and the day of the journey.''

However, said Jadhav, when victims reached the airport, Shaikh would call up and inform them that the journey has been postponed for two days. "But victims never left the country and their attempts to contact Shaikh did not bear fruit."

The police are now on the lookout for Shaikh's accomplices who helped him prepare fake visas.

Source: TOI