ED to file money laundering case over foreign funds in LWE-affected areas

New Delhi: Enforcement Directorate has decided to file a case of money laundering to probe the alleged "systematic routing of foreign funds into Left-Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected areas" and alleged channelling of nearly ₹95 crore in illegal foreign funds into India, with a sizeable portion alleged to have reached Maoist-affected areas in Chhattisgarh and Assam.

Not only will the agency register a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), it will also write to CBI to register a case under relevant provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for alleged violations of FCRA and BNS, 2023, people in the know told ET.

ED has claimed that the said money ( ₹95 crore) was channelled into India by using foreign bank issued cards from November 2025 to April 2026. The agency is investigating alleged destruction of digital evidence and the involvement of a foreign organisation operating through a network of shell entities. The agency had initially launched an investigation under FEMA involving a US-based Truist Bank and over half a dozen individuals. After completing its FEMA probe, ED shared its findings with Karnataka and Chhattisgarh Police which recently registered FIRs to investigate the case.

ED had launched a probe on the basis of an input received from the Financial Intelligence Unit-India about receipt and utilisation of foreign funds through the use of foreign bank debit cards issued by Truist Bank, bypassing banking and regulatory channels. "The input indicated that repeated cash withdrawals were being made from ATMs in India, typically in the range of ₹70,000-80,000 at intervals of 2-3 days, across states," an official told ET.

The agency carried out searches at multiple premises in six states in April and seized 25 foreign bank debit cards. The agency, in a press statement in April claimed that its investigation under FEMA has established that the accused individuals, in criminal conspiracy with The Timothy Initiative (TTI), USA, coordinated and withdrew foreign funds through ATMs across India using debit cards issued by Truist Bank, USA.

In its statement in April, ED claimed that approximately ₹6.5 crore was withdrawn over the past few years in areas such as Dhamtari and Bastar in Chhattisgarh.

"Notably, ₹3.2 crore was withdrawn from a single ATM located at Vijay Plaza, Bastar Road, Dhamtari, through 3,200 transactions of ₹10,000 each using two debit cards," an official told ET. Significantly, the agency recorded the statement of a co-accused Micah Mark on April 19. In his statement, Mark has allegedly revealed that TTI has distributed "more than 1,000 such cards in India since 2019".

People quoted above told ET that immediately after the search action launched by ED in April, TTI Global portal (www.ttiglobal.org) became inaccessible for Indian users and the cloud-based data maintained by TTI, USA, was remotely deleted from the back-end servers. "This constitutes destruction of evidence," another official said.

He added that "the pattern of systematic cash withdrawals, conducted through a network of entities and field functionaries in LWE/Naxalite-affected districts of Chhattisgarh using foreign funds sourced from and directed by TTI, USA, prima facie constitutes an unlawful activity".

He said the offence falls "within the meaning of Section 2(o) of UAPA, 1967 - being an activity which facilitates the movement of foreign funds into regions under active Naxal influence, thereby causing disaffection against India and threatening its sovereignty, territorial integrity and internal security. TTI and its Indian network prima facie constitute an unlawful association under the said Act".