New Delhi: The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has arrested an alleged mastermind of Chinese shell companies in India. This comes just days after raids were conducted at various locations in Gurgaon, Bangalore, and Hyderabad. The search operation was conducted on the offices of Jillian Consultants India Private Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jilian Hong Kong Ltd, at Gurgaon; Fininty Pvt Ltd at Bangalore; and Husys Consulting Ltd, an erstwhile listed company at Hyderabad. The SFIO has now arrested Dortse, who is on the Board of Jillian India Ltd. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), under whose aegis SFIO operates, on Sunday issued a statement saying Dortse has clearly emerged as the mastermind of the whole racket of incorporating a large number of shell companies with Chinese links in India and providing dummy Directors on their Boards. Dortse, the ministry said, had shown himself to be a resident of Mandi in Himachal Pradesh as per the records filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). Evidence procured during the inquiry by RoC Delhi and the simultaneous search operations clearly points to dummy directors being paid by Jilian India Ltd to act as dummies in several shell companies, it said. During the search operations, the SFIO recovered boxes filled with company seals and digital signatures of dummy directors. "The Indian employees were in touch with their Chinese counterparts through a Chinese instant messaging app. Husys Ltd. was also found to be acting on behalf of Jilian India Ltd," the statement said. The ministry said initial observations reveal that Husys Ltd had a pact with Jilian Hong Kong Ltd and the probe so far points to a possible involvement of these shell companies in serious financial crimes detrimental to the financial security of the country. The MCA had assigned the investigation of Jilian Consultants India Private Limited (JCPIL) and 32 other companies to SFIO on 9th September 2022. Dortse and one Chinese national are the two directors in JCPIL. Based on the investigations, it was gathered that Dortse had fled from Delhi-NCR to a remote place in the state of Bihar and was attempting to escape India through the road route. Immediately, a special team was constituted in the SFIO which arrested Dortse on Saturday.