The Enforcement Directorate’s Hyderabad zonal office has arrested four more people in an alleged India-based call centre fraud network that targeted US residents, taking the total number of arrests in the case to seven. The agency said digital records showed 927 approved collections worth about ₹261 crore between July 2025 and September 2026.
Harshil Nayanbhai Raval, Jaswant Singh, Chetan Munjal and Pranav Pithadia were arrested on November 3 under Section 19(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. A special PMLA court at Nampally remanded all four to judicial custody, according to the Enforcement Directorate.
The agency has alleged that the network impersonated US government officials and collected cash, gold and other payments from victims. It said Pithadia owned and managed call centres in Patiala, where 242 people were employed, including 110 dialers. He allegedly approved and settled payments and directed proceeds through US mule accounts and Dubai-based accounts.
The ED alleged that Raval maintained master accounts containing details of profits, partners’ shares and remittances to Dubai, while also investing alleged proceeds in properties. Singh allegedly coordinated cash pick-ups and parcels from victims in the US and routed collections through tokens and hawala channels for conversion into Indian rupees.
Munjal, identified by the agency as a 25% partner in Rabditta Corporates, which operates Kala Ghoda restaurants, allegedly provided protection to the call centres and received funds from their proceeds. The ED said the restaurant business received ₹23.19 lakh in alleged proceeds of crime.
Searches at four premises in Patiala, Pune and Chandigarh on September 15 uncovered two operating call centres in Patiala and one in Pune, with around 220 people present. The agency’s forensic examination of 79 digital devices yielded chats, ledgers, calling data, victim records and cryptocurrency wallets.
The ED identified 397 US bank accounts across at least 15 banks that were allegedly used to receive victims’ money. Of these, 313 were with Wells Fargo. Other banks named in the agency’s findings included SSB Bank, Bank of America, Thread Bank, Column N.A. and Lead Bank. The accounts allegedly belonged to recruited mules, people whose accounts had been taken over, or individuals linked to stolen and synthetic identities. Four victims’ online banking login details were also found.
The seized material included 65 mobile phones, 13 laptops and computers, and one data-storage disk. Investigators found at least 11 identity cards and badges that allegedly purported to belong to US officials, along with forged Department of Justice seizure and lien notices, Treasury assurance letters, asset-forfeiture notices, a US Court of Appeals order and legal notices presented as documents from the Federal Trade Commission and the US Supreme Court.
The devices contained a contact footprint of 6,463 US telephone numbers that had been called or messaged. Investigators also found 92 images of identity documents, including complete Social Security numbers in four cases and the last four digits in 136 cases.
The financial investigation is examining assets estimated at about ₹400 crore, including land and properties in Chandigarh and cryptocurrency wallets. The ED said the alleged proceeds moved through USDT on the TRON network and Bitcoin, with transfers between wallets linked to Patiala and Pune followed by intermediary wallets and offshore exchanges in countries including Singapore and South Korea.
Three people arrested earlier—Vikas Nimar, Tarachand Nimar and Mohd. Irfan Ansari—remain lodged in Chanchalguda Central Prison. The Enforcement Directorate said it was tracing further proceeds and examining the involvement of other people and entities in the alleged cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy.
