In a major development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested an Instagram beauty influencer named Sandeepa Virk in a Rs 40 crore money laundering case.
Sandeepa Virk's arrest took place on August 12 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, and a court has remanded her to the agency’s custody until August 14.
ED on August 12 and 13 carried out multiple raids in Delhi and Mumbai. Indian Express quoted ED saying that these raids were part of an ongoing investigation 'into Virk and her associates, who are alleged to have exerted undue influence through misrepresentation and defrauded individuals by soliciting money under false pretences.'
As per reports, the case against this influencer Sandeepa Virk is linked to an FIR registered at a police station in Mohali under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (fraud) of the Indian Penal Code. In this, she was accused of extorting money from people through false pretences and misrepresentation.
As per Dainik Jagaran report, Sandeepa Virk is accused of acquiring real estate through fraud. She posed as the owner of a website called hyboocare.com, which claimed to sell FDA-approved beauty products.
ED reportedly found hyboocare.com to be 'non-existent'. During the investigation, it was also found that so called l FDA-approved beauty products did not exist. The website did not have user registration features, the payment gateway was constantly failing and it did not have any social media presence.
Sandeepa Virk's Instagram profile describes her as actress and entrepreneur. She has a whopping 1.2 million followers.
She has also shared her bio via IMDb. IMDb writes, "Sandeepa Virk is an actor & internationally certified cosmetologist from Canada and UAE Recently, she launched her Skincare brand on e-commerce called HYBOO.. She did theatre workshop with nadira babbar.
She did music videos , ramp shows, print ads and more thn 50 catalogues for the clothing brand.. She did Punjabi movie Gun&goal as a lead."
