Enforcement Directorate Escalates HPZ Token Scam Probe: Supplementary Complaint Admitted by Special Court

(By Syed Ali Taher Abedi)

19, January, 2026-In a significant procedural development within the multi-crore HPZ Token investment fraud, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has intensified its legal offensive. On January 12, 2026, the Dimapur Sub-Zonal Office of the ED moved a Supplementary Prosecution Complaint (SPC) before the Hon’ble Special Court (PMLA) in Dimapur, a move that formally expands the scope of the ongoing money laundering trial.

The Hon’ble Special Court has officially taken cognizance of the complaint, signalling that the judicial machinery finds sufficient prima facie grounds to proceed against the newly identified facets of the crime.

Expanded Judicial Scope & Predicate Offenses

The investigation, conducted under the stringent provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, is built upon a foundation of multiple criminal investigations.

While the probe was originally anchored in an FIR registered by the Cyber Crime Police Station, Kohima (Crime No. 03/2021), the ED’s subsequent trail of evidence has woven together a broader “web of criminality.”

The current prosecution now encompasses findings from several critical investigative threads:

• Guwahati Connection: FIR No. 0006/2021 dated September 2, 2021, registered by the CID Police Station, Ulubari.
• National Oversight: A high-profile case registered by the CBI (EO-III, Delhi) vide RC2212022E0022, dated June 8, 2022.

By consolidating these diverse FIRs into a single, comprehensive PMLA investigation, the ED aims to demonstrate a synchronized pattern of money laundering that transcends state borders.

The Anatomy of the HPZ Token Scam

The scam operated under the guise of an investment app, promising astronomical returns through the mining of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Feature	Details
Primary Accused	HPZ Token, shell entities, and various foreign nationals.
Modus Operandi	Use of shell companies and “dummy” directors to layer illicit funds.
Total Proceeds of Crime	Estimated at approximately ₹2,200 Crore.
Judicial Status	Major kingpins previously declared Fugitive Economic Offenders (FEO).

---

Significance of the Supplementary Complaint

Unlike a standard charge sheet, the filing of an SPC suggests that the ED has unearthed additional layers of the money trail, new beneficiaries, or further “proceeds of crime” that were not captured in the initial prosecution.

The Special Court’s decision to take cognizance means the trial will now proceed with a wider lens, holding more entities accountable for the siphoning of public funds.

In the course of investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), it has been unearthed that the so‑called HPZ Token Scam constitutes a large‑scale investment fraud.

The scheme was orchestrated to ensnare unsuspecting investors across the country, who were duped of their hard‑earned savings by being fraudulently induced to invest through the HPZ Token Application on the false promise of exorbitant returns.

Modus Operandi Revealed

• The investigation has revealed the systematic deployment of mule accounts, shell companies, dummy directors, and the misuse of payment aggregators to launder the Proceeds of Crime (POC).
• The trail of illicit funds has been meticulously traced from the point of collection from the victims to the principal accused, including Bhupesh Arora and others.
• The fraudulent collections were allegedly routed through multiple UPI IDs, which were found to be linked to mule accounts maintained with ICICI Bank.

Layering of Funds

• The POC collected in these mule accounts were subsequently transferred to a network of shell companies, which camouflaged the illicit transactions by misrepresenting their business activities and misusing the services of payment aggregators such as PayU, Aggrepay, and Easebuzz.
• In a calculated attempt to perpetuate investor confidence, a token portion of the POC was returned to certain investors, thereby creating an illusion of legitimacy and inducing further investments.

Final Integration

• From these shell entities, the laundered proceeds were ultimately consolidated into the accounts of M/s Shigoo Technology Private Limited (STPL) and M/s Lillian Technocab Private Limited (LTPL).
• The investigation thus establishes a clear chain of culpability, demonstrating how the accused orchestrated a complex web of transactions to disguise and integrate the illicit gains into the financial system.

This judicially‑styled narration underscores the gravity of the offence, the sophisticated layering of transactions, and the systematic abuse of financial channels in furtherance of money laundering.

ED reported in the SPC that the accounts of STPL and LTPL were used to further transfer the POC to the shell and dubious entities like M/s Digi India Marketing, M/s Analytiq Business Ventures Private Limited, M/s Freebie Solutions Private Limited, M/s Truvinta Solutions Pvt. Ltd, M/s Zavion Trading Pvt. Ltd, M/s Sark Enroll System Private Limited etc.

The investigation has revealed that all these fake concerns were allegedly controlled and managed by Bhupesh Arora and his associates. Bhupesh Arora has allegedly used this network of shell entities, mule accounts, hawala operators, foreign currency exchangers to launder these POC collected from a huge number of gullible investors.

The accused Bhupesh Arora is currently under arrest by ED in a separate case of similar nature where again he has duped large number of gullible investors using another fake investment App.

The Main Prosecution Complaint in this case already stands filed before the Hon’ble Special Court on 04.03.2024 and the case is under trial.

The POC in the matter have been identified to be Rs. 2200 Crore (approx.).

The POC that was collected from the gullible investors was transferred swiftly across various mule bank accounts. Some of the funds were also sent outside the country using Hawala network. However, on account of timely action by ED, a sum of Rs. 650 Crore which was lying in these mule accounts was attached during the investigation. Further investigation is under progress