In a big bust, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on September 10 (Saturday) seized more than Rs 7 crore in cash after it conducted a raid on the promoters of a Kolkata-based fraud mobile gaming app company as part of a money-laundering investigation.

The federal agency conducted raids at more than six locations of the gaming app named ‘E-Nuggets’ and its promoter identified as Aamir Khan and others, the Enforcement Directorate said in a statement. Bundles of cash were seized from the second floor of a house owned by Naser Khan (Aamir Khan’s father), who runs a transport business, according to officials in Kolkata.

“So far, more than Rs 7 crore in cash has been found at the premises and the counting is still in progress,” the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said.

As per ED, Aamir Khan had launched the mobile gaming application E-Nuggets with a motive to defraud the public, the agency alleged.

“During the initial period, the users were rewarded with a commission and the balance in the wallet could be withdrawn hassle-free. This provided initial confidence among users, and they started investing bigger amounts for a greater percentage of commission and a greater number of purchase orders,” it said.

According to ED, after collecting a “handsome amount” from the public, the withdrawal from the above-mentioned app was stopped. Later, all data, including profile information, was removed from the app servers. It was then the users got suspicious and realised the fraud, the ED said.

Official sources are also investigating if the app and its operators had links with other “Chinese controlled” apps that had been issuing loans at reasonably high rates to needy people which resulted in several loan takers ending their lives because of not being able to pay the amount and being threatened by these loan operators to pay up.