Kochi: KD Prathapan, the owner of online platform Highrich, has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on charges of orchestrating a Rs 1,157 crore fraud through multilevel marketing. The arrest took place onThursday night, following days of questioning.

Prathapan is set to appear in court on Friday. According to ED officials, he has been uncooperative during the investigation, which may prompt the filing of a charge sheet soon.

Mathrubhumi English is now on WhatsApp; Join the channel

ED has labelled the Highrich case as one of the largest financial frauds in the state's history. Investigators discovered that Highrich used multilevel marketing tactics to inflate its customer base, purportedly reaching 1.63 crore customer IDs. Shockingly, it was revealed that approximately fifty IDs were created under a single client's name to exaggerate their numbers.

Furthermore, ED's probe unearthed significant earnings from cryptocurrency transactions by Highrich promoters. It's alleged that membership fees alone amounted to Rs 1,500 crore, with Rs 250 crore reportedly going to Prathapan and his wife, Sreena, who are both implicated in the investigation.