Bengaluru, Nov 18 (IANS): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said that it has recently conducted search operations at 16 locations in Bengaluru in connection with a money laundering case related to "Super Like Online Earning Application (Part time job scam)".

The searches were conducted by the ED on November 14 and 15 under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at the residential premises of the accused persons and also at the offices of the payment gateways and some banks.

During the search proceedings, around 80 bank accounts having balance to the tune of Rs 1 crore, belonging to the accused persons have been freezed by the ED.

The ED initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of the FIR registered by South CEN Police Station, Bengaluru against Super Like Online Earning Application and other accused persons.

"One app called 'Super Like' claimed that if the customers share photos and videos of celebrities by investing some money, they would get money as profit. By getting attracted towards this lucrative scheme, the common public invested funds in the app and after sharing videos of celebrities, they got some money as profit for a while," said an ED official.

However, after some time, even after sharing videos and photos, the customers did not get any returns and when they tried to take back their invested money, the amount was also blocked by that application.

A chargesheet has also been filed by the police before the court of Principal City Civil & Sessions Judge, Bengaluru against 50 accused individuals which also included two Chinese nationals.*