New Delhi, Mar 11 (PTI) A special court in Haryana on Friday sent a software engineer to ED custody for five days after the agency arrested him in a money laundering case linked to alleged duping of numerous depositors through various Ponzi schemes.

Pranjil Batra was taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday as part of its investigation against a Hisar-based company called Future Makers Life Care Private Limited, the agency said in a statement.

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Batra, who looked after the software of the company, "siphoned off" funds worth over Rs 50 crore from the accounts of Future Makers Group by creating fake IDs and using the bank accounts of his family members, close associates and shell companies, the ED alleged.

"He (Batra) used these funds, which are proceeds of crime, for purchase of properties, jewellery and shares of high net worth shell companies. He sold some of the immovable properties acquired from the proceeds of crime to the entities controlled by him," it said.

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The ED alleged the man was "non-cooperative and resorted to withholding relevant information and misleading the investigation" during questioning.

A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court sent him to five days of ED custody after he was produced before it on Friday, it said.

The money laundering case was filed by the federal probe agency after studying multiple FIRs filed against the group by Haryana and Telangana police.

"Ponzi schemes run by the group were based on pyramidal structure where the persons at the top of the pyramid gained at the behest of the loss borne by the persons at base of the pyramid," the ED said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)