Highrich scam: ED freezes 55 bank accounts with Rs 212 crore of owner couple and company

Kochi: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has frozen 55 bank accounts of the scam-hit Highrich Online Shoppe Private Limited and its owner couple K D Prathapan and Sreena Prathapan, said a top official.

The 55 bank accounts have Rs 212 crore in them, said Prashant Kumar, ED's Deputy Director of Kochi Zone, on Thursday, January 25.

The central agency, investigating possible money laundering by the couple, found the details of the bank accounts after it searched the houses of the couple at Cherpu, and the offices of Highrich in Thrissur district on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Highrich's Chief Executive Sreena Prathapan and Managing Director Prathapan are accused of running pyramid schemes, raising crores of rupees from the public under the guise of an online retail store selling groceries. They took the deposits by promising high returns, said police.

Thrissur's Cherpu Police had registered a case against the couple and directors of Highrich under the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Scheme (BUDS) Act. According to the initial investigation by the police, the couple raised Rs 1,630 crore.

Thrissur Collector had issued an order to provisionally attach the movable and immovable assets of Highrich and its owners under the BUDS Act.

Investigators of Cherpu Police said that the money raised with the promise of 40% returns was deposited in 20 accounts in four private banks. They also said that Highrich owned around 70 shell companies, 14 of them in Thrissur.

On Tuesday, January 23, a team of ED officials reached Cherpu to search the houses of the Prathapans. But moments before their arrival, the couple fled the house in a chauffeur-driven car.

The ED team attempted to give the car a chase but gave up and informed the police.

The Prathapans later moved the Special Court hearing cases registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act seeking anticipatory bail.

The case was scheduled to be heard on Thursday, January 25. But the judge sought a report and rescheduled the hearing to January 30, said M J Santhosh, ED's Special Public Prosecutor.

In November 2023, the Kerala GST intelligence wing raided the Highrich Online Shippe office at Arattupuzha in Thrissur and reportedly found that the company suppressed a turnover of Rs 703 crore and calculated that its tax liability was Rs 126.54 crore. The intelligence wing had also arrested Prathapan who was remanded in judicial custody by the Ernakulam Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Economic Office) Court.