Athira Sethu
Kochi, 3 March 2025
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing a major financial fraud said to have been carried out by Noida-headquartered IT firm Vuenow Marketing Services Ltd (VMSL). The agency has detected illegal proceeds of Rs 3,558 crore connected to VMSL and its related entities.
In a significant development, the ED arrested Sukhvinder Singh Kharour, chief executive officer of VMSL, and his wife, Dimple Kharour, on Saturday. The couple was trying to flee the country but was intercepted at Indira Gandhi International Airport following a lookout notice against them. The Bureau of Immigration tipped off the ED, resulting in their arrest.
Sukhvinder subsequently asserted in court that he and his wife were arrested in Nepal on February 28 at 8 AM. But the court turned down this assertion, saying that no evidence was presented. It held that the arrest was justified and legal. The ED was given ten days to question Sukhvinder and five days to question Dimple.
The agency also plans to follow the flow of illegal money and find out the properties bought using money laundering. It is also checking if the fraud has its links abroad. The interrogation of Sukhvinder is likely to throw more light on money laundering and other people involved. The interrogation of Dimple is key as she is suspected to have remitted black money in huge amounts.
VMSL marketed itself using the brand “MyCloudParticle,” which promised an investment scheme in the cloud storage industry. Investors were induced to purchase units of cloud storage, “cloud particles,” and lease them for ten years back to VMSL’s marketing partners, ZRPPL and ZIPL. In turn, investors would receive an assured rental income. Every cloud particle covered one terabyte of space.
The ED is also pursuing its investigation further to reveal more information regarding the fraud and any potential foreign connections.
