The Enforcement Directorate’s Guwahati Zonal Office has provisionally attached assets valued at Rs 13.41 crore in connection with a major ponzi scam involving M/s DB Stock Consultancy and its proprietor Deepankar Barman. This action was taken under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged investor cheating through unregulated deposit schemes.
The attached assets include immovable properties worth approximately Rs 8.71 crore, consisting of 13 properties like flats, land, and office spaces in Guwahati, Hyderabad, and Visakhapatnam. Additionally, movable assets worth nearly Rs 4.7 crore have been seized, including 27 bank accounts holding Rs 4.03 crore, and mutual fund and equity investments valued at about Rs 66.45 lakh.
The ED’s probe began based on an FIR filed at Paltan Bazar Police Station in Guwahati, which was later taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The case involves violations under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act, 2019. Investigations uncovered that DB Stock Consultancy ran an unregulated deposit scheme from 2021 to August 2024, enticing investors with promises of unusually high returns ranging from 1.25 per cent weekly to as high as 120 per cent annually.
