NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) announced on Wednesday that two people have been arrested in connection with a money laundering case in which Rs. 425 crore was fraudulently moved outside India using 19 sham Indian firms.

The defendants have been named Vikas Kalra and Sidhant Gupta, according to a top ED official. On June 13, they were taken under arrest.

The ED launched a money-laundering inquiry based on an FIR filed by Punjab National Bank against 19 organisations that opened accounts with its Mint Street, Chennai branch and transmitted Rs. 425 crore to various entities in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates during a six-month period.

"The Indian entities were shown to be non-existent upon verification, and the true beneficiaries were found to be the promoter directors of organisations outside of India who are being prosecuted. In this case, a man named Vikas Kalra set up three companies in Hong Kong, one of which he was the only director, and used them to launder Rs. 18.95 crore. Sidhant Gupta had created a company in Hong Kong to launder Rs. 2.5 crore in a similar manner "said an official from the Department of Education.

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