The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which recently arrested Rakesh Poddar and Mukesh Poddar in a decade old Ponzi scam worth over Rs 10 crore is facing a major challenge to arrest mastermind of the scam, Gorakhnath Bhagat, who has been absconding right after the scam surfaced in 2010.
On September 13, ED after a year-long hunt arrested the notorious brothers Rakesh and Mukesh. Both were the close associates of absconding Bhagat and served as vice chairman of MSS & Healthcare Ayurvedic Trust which the trio had formed to cheat people.
Taken on seven days’ police remand they said that right after the scam was exposed they fled away to avoid their arrest. Right after that they lost contact with Gorakhnath. They continue to plead before ED that they don’t even know about the permanent address of Gorakhnath and his background.
While Ranchi police failed to make any breakthrough in the case; ED stepped-in the investigation and within a year made a major breakthrough by arresting two accused.
ED is facing difficulty to track and nab Gorakthnath since information regarding him is quite vague. There is vague information that he originally hailed from Saran district of Bihar. There is also unverified information that Gorakthnath was actually lynched years back. ED sources said that often criminals spread false information to confuse investigative agencies and such information can’t be relied upon without verification.
This has made ED clueless as Gorakhnath had not left any correct documentary evidence while running the scam. ED even contacted Ranchi police to get information about him but the effort bore no result.
They had set-up the office at Janta Flat, Harmu Housing Colony under Argora police station area of the city capital. It remained operational from 2008 to 2010.
Rakesh was arrested from Maldahiya area under Chetganj police station area of Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh. Mukesh was arrested from Muzaffarpur district of Bihar. Produced before the special PMLA court in Ranchi, ED secured their seven days police remand to know modus oprendi of the crime besides whereabouts of Gorakhnath.