The Special Court of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Dimapur Nagaland has declared Bhupesh Arora as Fugitive Economic Offender as per the provisions of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA), 2018 in the alleged ₹2200 crore HPZ Token & Others case on 22nd January 2025. The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Dimapur Sub Zonal Office had earlier put an application for Arora to be declared so, the ED stated in a press release.
ED informed that Arora had fled to Dubai after the initiation of the investigation by the agency based on the FIR registered by Cyber Crime Police Station, Kohima. It mentioned that the accused had not complied to the summons issued by the Speacial Court (PMLA), Dimapur and therefore a Non-Bailable Warrant (NBW) was issued by the Court in July 2024.
Bhupesh Arora and his associates are accused of duping gullible investors, in garb of promise of astronomic returns on investing money for mining of Bitcoin and other Crypto Currencies, for which an App based Token by the name of “HPZ Token” was used. ED investigation revealed that huge funds collected by cheating general/gullible public all over India were diverted to various shell companies and individuals/proprietorship concerns through various fraudulent schemes.
ED informed that its investigation revealed that one Bhupesh Arora and his close associates were the persons behind such fraudulent schemes and cheating the gullible public in all parts of India. Subsequently at the behest of Bhupesh Arora, the said deposited amount was further transferred to create untraceable layer of transactions and after several layers, the substantial money was also siphoned out of India. The Proceeds of Crime unearthed till date is Rs. 2200 Crore approx. and Rs. 497.20 Crore has been attached and freezed by ED and these amounts are likely to increase as the investigation progresses, the Directorate stated.
ED has attached 9 immovable properties valued at Rs 2.05 Crore in Delhi belonging to Bhupesh Arora and 286 bank accounts and virtual accounts having Rs. 459.79 Crore in 20 states of India including Delhi, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Assam, UP, Chhattisgarh, MP, Odisha and Telangana. ED also stated that Arora had created over 200 companies including private limited companies either in his own name or in the name of his relatives and close associates to create the untraceable layer to launder money. It added that further investigation is being conducted to identify such companies/bank accounts used by the accused.
