Police bust Rs 92 crore fraud in U’khand, arrest five linked to Rs 190 crore scam across India
Tuesday, 29 OCTOBER 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The police arrested five individuals including two women in Pauri for committing a fraud of Rs 92 crore in Uttarakhand by luring people to invest in their fake company. The accused have also reportedly duped other people of about Rs 190 crore in several other States as well, the Pauri senior superintendent of police Lokeshwar Singh said. He informed that the case came to light when a Kotdwar resident Tripti Negi filed a complaint on June 1, 2024, against Vineet Singh and Pragya Rawat, who acted as a manager and cashier at the company named The Loni Urban Multi-State Credit & Thrift Co-operative Society (LUCC) in Dugadda, Kotdwar. Negi accused the duo of taking her money under the pretence of opening a recurring deposit account but failed to provide her any bond or deposit proof. The SSP formed a special investigation team to investigate the matter. It was revealed that a Rishikesh resident Girish Chandra Singh Bisht had reportedly established the company’s branch in Rishikesh in 2016 and enticed locals to invest, claiming attractive returns. Bisht expanded the company across Uttarakhand, opening around 35 branches in Pauri, Dehradun, Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Uttarkashi and Tehri. He hired heads of these branches whose role involved collecting money from local branches and transferring it up the chain. The SSP further informed that in 2021, Vineet Singh set up another branch in Dugadda and organised seminars to attract more investors with promises of investments in foreign oil wells and gold mines. Singh said that some maturity payments were made initially to strengthen public trust but as the scheme expanded, the payments stopped, causing significant financial losses. Further investigations uncovered that LUCC is one of six societies under the control of Samir Aggarwal, who allegedly fled to Dubai. He established six entities, each operating in different states, including LUCC in Uttarakhand and others across Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Bihar. In LUCC’s Dugadda branch alone, about Rs 50 lakh matured this year, yet no repayments were made. Singh said that out of about Rs 190 crore deposited in LUCC’s accounts, only Rs two lakh were in there, with evidence suggesting funds were diverted to private accounts and possibly moved abroad through hawala transactions. The police arrested five accused and seized two luxury cars connected to the case on Sunday, the SSP said. The arrested individuals are identified as Urmila Bisht (45), Jagmohan Singh Bisht (51), Pragya Rawat (25), Vineet Singh (37) and Girish Chandra Bisht, (59). The suspects have been presented in court for further legal proceedings and further action will be taken accordingly, he added.
