The Enforcement Directorate has arrested an accused in connection with the illegal foreign remittances worth ₹4,817 crore against forged invoices for making compensatory payments for under-invoiced imports made from China and Hong Kong.
The accused has been identified as Rajdeep Sharma, a builder based in Punjab’s Mohali, who was produced before a Delhi special court that sent him to ED custody till August 28. He has been arrested in the Birfa IT case in which the agency had earlier arrested five accused named Manideep Mago, Sanjay Sethi, Mayank Dang, Tushar Dang and Jaspreet Singh Bagga.
According to the ED, its investigation revealed that Mr. Tushar and his brother Mr. Mayank had set up a well-organised syndicate comprising a big pool of Indian importers and traders, cash handlers, international “hawala” agents, local conduit firms, numerous Chinese manufacturers and suppliers, and a dedicated chain of warehouses in several major Chinese cities.
The agency found that the goods purportedly imported by the Dang brothers were highly under-invoiced and the compensatory payments were remitted abroad through accused Mr. Mago and Mr. Sethi.
“The remittances made by Manideep Mago and Sanjay Sethi were made against bogus invoices raised for online lease of servers for crypto mining, education software, lease of bare metal servers, etc. However, investigations have revealed that no such services were actually provided and the remittances were made to foreign companies controlled by Manideep Mago and his accomplices, from where the payments were made to Chinese companies engaged in export of various products to India,” it said.
The ED alleged that Mr. Sharma had regular cash dealings with Mr. Tushar through “hawala” routes. “The cash dealings were on account of goods imported by Rajdeep Sharma through Tushar Dang. Rajdeep Sharma admitted the cash dealings and the fact that he had knowledge of under-invoicing of goods by Tushar Dang. This cash was layered through various bank accounts operated by the accused persons before being illegally remitted abroad to make payments to Chinese exporters,” it said.
Published – August 23, 2025 09:02 am IST
