The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized ₹1 crore after conducting its first-ever search operations in Leh-Ladakh in connection with a fake cryptocurrency investment scheme that defrauded 2,508 investors of over ₹7 crore.

“The agency on Sunday seized ₹1 crore in cash and other incriminating documents connected to the fraudulent scheme,” said an official.

On Friday, the ED raided several premises in Ladakh and in Sonipat in Haryana linked to Leh residents A.R. Mir and Ajay Kumar Choudhary, who ran a cryptocurrency syndicate that promised to double investors’ money or an assured return of 40 per cent if they agreed to a lock-in period of 10 months.

Hundreds of unsuspecting people had invested in Emollient Coin but did not get any returns.

The searches were undertaken under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The money-laundering case stems from several FIRs registered in Leh and Jammu and Kashmir naming Mir and Choudhary as the accused.

A probe revealed that the “fake” cryptocurrency was represented and promoted by Naresh Gulia of Sonipat through a company named Emollient Coin Limited that was incorporated in September 2017 in the United Kingdom.

Mir and Choudhary along with their agents were running the fake cryptocurrency business from an office in Leh.

The investigation revealed that 2,508 people had invested ₹7.35 crore in the scheme.

The money collected from this alleged fraud business was laundered by the accused and utilised to start a real estate business by buying plots of land in Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.