Chennai, September 24, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested two more people in its money laundering investigation into the alleged Hashpe cryptocurrency fraud, taking the number of recent arrests in the case to four.
The agency identified the latest accused as Syed Usman, also known as Babu, and Dhamodharan Balachandran. Both were arrested on September 22 under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, and produced before a special PMLA court, which remanded them to three days of judicial custody, according to the ED.
The agency has not disclosed Balachandran’s alleged role in the suspected scheme in its brief announcement.
The arrests follow searches conducted by the ED’s Chennai Zonal Office-II on September 1 at 11 premises across Chennai, Coimbatore and Kolkata as part of its probe into the handling and movement of money allegedly collected through Hashpe.
The agency subsequently arrested Hitesh Kumar and Imran Basha on September 3.
According to the ED’s account of the earlier searches, Kumar, Basha and Usman, along with their associates, allegedly promoted Hashpe as a cryptocurrency trading platform. Investors were allegedly offered attractive returns through a purported cryptocurrency token called TCX.
The ED is examining the flow of funds collected from investors, including whether the money was diverted and whether transactions involving the alleged proceeds constitute money laundering.
The investigation stems from allegations of fraud being examined by the Puducherry Cyber Crime Police. The ED’s probe focuses on the alleged laundering and handling of proceeds linked to the underlying offence.
With Usman now in custody alongside Balachandran, both will remain under judicial remand as the agency continues to trace the alleged money trail and establish the roles of individuals connected with the case.
The allegations are part of an ongoing investigation and have not been established as criminal liability by a court.
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