Enforcement Directorate conducts searches across five States in probe of alleged Axis Mutual Fund scam

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday (August 1, 2025) conducted searches across five States in connection with the alleged Axis Mutual Fund scam, involving fraud of over ₹200 crore.

The searches were carried out in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Bhuj in Gujarat, Gurugram in Haryana, Kolkata in West Bengal, and Ludhiana in Punjab.

The ED probe is based on a first information report registered by the Mumbai police in December 2024, alleging that Sri Viresh Joshi, the then fund manager of Axis Mutual Fund, exploited confidential information on the trades to be executed on behalf of the fund, to pre-emptively trade stocks, generating substantial illicit gains.

Illicit gains worth ₹200 crore

“The accused has thereby cheated the investors of Axis Mutual Fund, which holds assets under management of more than ₹2 lakh crore,” said an agency official. It is alleged that illegal profits were made by certain entities and persons by indulging in front-running trade activities in scripts traded by Axis Mutual Fund between 2018 and 2021.

“The accused had utilised a terminal in Dubai to punch the front running trade orders through mule trading accounts obtained from various brokers. In addition to the accused Sri Viresh Joshi, investigation has revealed that many other traders/brokers had also misused the advance inputs on Axis Mutual Fund Trades and indulged in front running to generate illicit trade profits, which is nothing but proceeds of crime (PoC),” the official said, adding that the PoC identified so far is over ₹200 crore.