Ahmedabad, Jan 1 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized silver, gold, cash and foreign currency collectively worth over Rs 4.59 crore in connection with an alleged stock market investment fraud in Gujarat's Mehsana district, officials said on Thursday.

According to an ED release, the seized assets include silver bullion weighing 110 kg valued at around Rs 2.4 crore, 1.29 kg of gold bullion worth Rs 1.7 crore, 39.7 kg of silver jewellery, Rs 38.8 lakh cash and foreign currencies equivalent to Rs 10.6 lakh.

"The agency's Ahmedabad Zonal office also recovered various property-related documents which are proceeds of crime. The seizure was made under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a case registered against Himanshu aka Pintu Bhavsar and others," the release said.

The ED initiated its investigation against Bhavsar and others on the basis of a First Information Report registered by Kheralu police station in Mehsana under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, it added.

"According to the FIR, the accused allegedly lured the complainant to invest money in the stock market with promises of high returns but later defrauded him by neither returning the investment nor providing any profits. The accused did not invest the complainant's money in shares of any company and instead diverted the funds for personal use," the release said.

Subsequent investigations revealed at least six more FIRs had been registered against the accused by police in different states, with the total alleged fraud amount standing at Rs 10.87 crore, it said.

Pintu Bhavsar and other accused persons had opened multiple offices in Mehsana, Visnagar and Vadnagar and had hired employees to make regular phone calls to potential investors, persuading them to invest in stock markets by promising attractive returns, it said.

"The investigation further revealed Bhavsar used an Investment Adviser Certificate issued by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to three entities for carrying out his own unregistered investment advisory activities. None of these entities were registered with SEBI to act as an investment adviser," said the release.

SEBI, in its order, held that these three entities - Vishwas Stocks Research Pvt Ltd, Dalal Stocks Advisory Pvt Ltd and Devki Stocks Pvt Ltd, along with their directors, including Bhavsar, were "responsible for violations and contraventions committed by offering investment advisory services", said the release. PTI PJT PD BNM

Stock market investment fraud: assets worth Rs 4.59 crore seized under PMLA; alleged unregistered investment advisory activity involved. Seizure of assets totalling about Rs 4.59 crore was made under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in an alleged stock market investment fraud where the accused are said to have lured investors, diverted funds for personal use, and operated unregistered investment advisory activities through multiple entities found responsible by the securities regulator.