The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai police arrested the accused in Speak Asia online marketing fraud on Thursday, April 12. The Singapore national was detained at Chennai airport by the immigration department when he was returning from Singapore after a look-out circular was issued against the accused in 2014.
EOW officials arrested India-origin accused Balwinder Singh and produced him before the court. The accused 38-year-old Balwinder Singh is one of the directors of a company related to Speak Asia in Singapore.
During the court hearing, the prosecutor, Pradip Gharat urged for Singh's custody on a behalf of the EOW as they suspected that around S$ 142,710,000 (Rs 710 crore) was misappropriated from the bank accounts of Singapore. The court asked the officers to investigate Singh's communication with other absconding accused in the case and sent him to EOW's custody until April 23.
So far 34 people related to this Speak Asia scam have been arrested. The EOW claimed that more than 20 lakh investors have been tricked by Singh. He conned people by seeking membership fee of S$221 and ensured them with a commission on new members.
In Singapore, an Indian national Samsugani Jahir Hussain was found guilty last month of assaulting a 13-year-old boy in a coffee shop in Yishun in November 2016 and was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment, including 12 strokes of the cane.
A 26-year-old, Indian-origin yoga instructor was sent to jail for nine months on April 2, as he was convicted for molesting his student during a private session at Real Yoga's Tampines Grande studio in April 2015.
Another Indian, Luke Manimaran Degarajoo, who was a physiotherapist by profession, molested an 18-year-old girl during a session at his clinic. The accused was sentenced to 11 months of imprisonment, including three strokes by the cane.
