Absconding Ponzi scheme operator arrested in Gujarat

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Crime Investigation Department (CID) on Friday arrested alleged Ponzi scheme operator Bhupendrasinh Zala from a village in Mehsana district, officials said.

Zala, whose scheme had attracted investments of over Rs 360 crore in four years, was on the run for around a month after cases were registered against him.

"We arrested Bhupendrasinh Zala, the main accused, from a farmhouse in Mehsana where he was hiding," said Superintendent of Police (CID-Crime) Himanshu Verma.

As per the CID, Zala persuaded people to invest money in the schemes of his firm BZ Financial Service by offering an annual interest rate of 36 percent, and used Rs 100 crore of investors' money to buy 17 properties.

After FIRs were registered against him in November and his properties were raided, he absconded.

Besides his lavish properties, police have seized five cars including a Porsche, worth Rs 9 crore in total.

Based on inputs received through an anonymous source, the police put Zala's activities under surveillance and found that he had opened offices in north Gujarat, Gandhinagar and Vadodara to collect deposits from unsuspecting people, the CID had said in a statement earlier.

Four bank accounts linked to Zala's firms, including BZ Financial Service, received Rs 360.72 crore between 2020 and 2024. In one of the accounts, investors paid nearly Rs 52 crore which were then diverted using hawala channels, the CID said.

Five to six cricketers and several school teachers were among the investors in the scheme floated by Zala, a resident of Himatnagar taluka in Sabarkantha district.

He never had any approval from the RBI or any other financial authority for collecting deposits. His firms would initially pay investors the promised returns to win their trust before defaulting. He had also appointed agents on commission basis to lure investors, the CID said.