TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (8) TMI 857
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....y UP Police against M/s Shine City Infra Project Pvt. Ltd., Rashid, Naseem (Managing Director), Asif Naseem (Director) and others. The allegation was for cheating the public by luring them into various schemes and defrauding them of their investments under the following schemes: (a) Fraudulent Real Estate Schemes: (i) Projects: Shine City floated many real estate projects in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal. (ii) Promises: Investors were promised manifold returns in the form of plots or monetary returns. (iii) Postdated Cheques: Issued to investors but bounced upon deposit. (iv) Forged Documents: Fake land documents were shown to lure investors. (v) Unfulfilled Promises: Neither investment amounts were returned nor plots allotted. (b) Shine Victory Coin (SVC) Scheme: (i) Virtual Currency: Shine City launched SVC without approval, luring investors. (ii) Valuation: Not based on blockchain technology, arbitrarily fixed by directors. (iii) Payments: SVC used to settle liabilities and payments to agents/customers. (iv) Further Investment Schemes: Investors were encouraged to invest in....
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....in the fake virtual currency, viz. Shine Victory Coin (SVC) scheme (which was launched without any approval from the Board of Directors or from concerned government authority), wherein many investors invested their hard-earned money. It is alleged in the FIRs that the money collected from the investors was transferred into various accounts of the Shine City group companies. The valuation of the Shine Victory Coin (SVC) was not based on any block chain technology and instead fixed as per the convenience of Rashid Naseem, Asif Naseem and other directors/promoters of company. The company had used SVC in order to settle its liabilities and payments dues to many agents/customers and issued them SVC. The complainant alleged in the FIR that the money invested in scheme was transferred to the company of Sh. Amitabh Kumar Srivastava namely, M/s Kingston Buildcon Private Limited. When the investors began to demand their money invested in SVC back, Rashid Naseem told them to further invest in another scheme under the name and style of 'Bid and Hot Deal'. In this scheme, Shine City promised to provide cars at a discounted price and hence, many complainants booked Royal Enfield Bullet a....
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....sets in the form of land and other assets. 13. So far as the appellant, Shri Abhishek Kumar Singh is concerned, he was also found involved in causing offence of money laundering and therefore the properties in his name and in the name of wife were provisionally attached by the respondent. Shri Abhishek Kumar Singh was, otherwise, arrested for causing offence under Section 3 of the Act of 2002. He worked as broker and marketing agent for Shine City. His work was to distribute pamphlets and to arrange site visits for potential customers of the company and then take them to office at 1/4, R Square Complex, Opposite SRS Mall, Lucknow. In return of which he used to get 5% on the amount of sale. 14. The appellant, Shri Abhishek Kumar Singh stated that he was knowing Rashid Naseem since 2014 and met him through Gyan Prakash and kept meeting with Rashid Naseem till 2018. In 2018, he came to know that Rashid escaped to Dubai but used to contact him from Dubai to order him to sell properties of Shine City. It was also stated that he met Gyan Prakash Upadhayay in the year 2013 and joined under him in an MLM scheme being run by Shine City Group of Companies. He was Down liner in 'Spa....
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....he proceeds of crime. The appellant had not launched the project or lured the public, instead the schemes were floated by the other accused. In view of above, there was no reason for the respondent to consider the amount of commission to be proceeds of crime. The provisional attachment of the property has been caused in ignorance of the fact aforesaid, thus, it deserves to be interfered. 19. Ld. Counsel for the appellants, further, submitted that the appellant, Smt. Shraddha Singh had independently purchased the property after taking loan of Rs. 22 lakhs from the bank, though, further amount on purchase of property was supported by her husband, Shri Abhishek Kumar Singh. Thus, the confirmation of the provisional attachment of the property in the hands of Smt. Shraddha Singh is wholly illegal in view of the fact that she had disclosed the source for purchase of the property but ignored by the Adjudicating Authority while confirming the provisional attachment of the property. 20. Ld. Counsel submitted that the Adjudicating Authority has failed to take into account that the appellant had disclosed the source for acquisition of the other property and it was from the rightful sour....
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....fold promises. Those promises were turned out to be false as the investors were not given their returns, as was promised by the company while floating different schemes. The police accordingly filed the charge-sheet after causing investigation. The respondent recorded ECIR and caused separate investigation under the Act of 2002. The statements of Shri Abhishek Kumar Singh were recorded while the other appellant, Smt. Shraddha Singh did not respond to the summons issued to her for recording of her statement. 27. The investigation clearly established Shri Abhishek Kumar Singh's involvement in the offence of money laundering. Consequently, he was arrested under Section 19 of the PMLA on 30.11.2023. The material on record shows that he worked as a broker and marketing agent for the Shine City Group, where his responsibilities included distributing promotional material, arranging site visits for prospective customers, and the sale of properties. In consideration of these services, he received a commission of approximately 5% of the sales generated by him. 28. The investigation further revealed that Shri Abhishek Kumar Singh was associated with the Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) netwo....
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....in her name, amounting to Rs. 1,46,38,384/-, were financed entirely from the proceeds of crime. She has also been receiving rental income from the property originally acquired by Shinecity Infra Projects Private Limited, which likewise constitutes proceeds of crime arising from the exploitation of a tainted property. 32. In the evidence, it was found that a sum of Rs. 3.90 Crore was received by the appellant directly in his bank account out of which Rs. 2.60 Crore has been taken to be proceeds of crime. The proceeds of crime was used to purchase immovable property so as the movable property. It was revealed on analysis of the bank statement and the statement of the assets in the name of the appellant of which complete source of acquisition of property could not be given. 33. The role of the appellant, Shri Abhishek Kumar Singh was revealed in the investigation. It was found that the appellant, Shri Abhishek Kumar Singh worked as a Team Leader for running various MLM schemes of Shine City Group of Companies and remained President of "Garuda Tem of Shine City". He was working with Shine City since 2013 and got commission from sale of properties. He was one of the core members o....