Cricketers, schoolteachers invested in Ponzi scheme: Gujarat CID

Ahmedabad: Five to six cricketers and several schoolteachers have invested in a fraudulent scheme floated by a Sabarkantha district resident who is currently absconding, a Gujarat CID official said citing a probe into the 'Ponzi scam'.

The investment by the cricketers, whose names have not been disclosed by the police, ranged up to Rs 2 crore.

A Ponzi scheme is a type of fraudulent financial plan where investors are promised substantial returns in short-term. Under such a scheme, the operator pays existing investors with funds collected from new investors.

Till now, three FIRs have been registered by the Gujarat Crime Investigation Department against the Ponzi scam main accused, Bhupendrasinh Zala, resident of Himatnagar taluka in Sabarkantha district, Additional Director General of Police, CID Crime and Railways, Rajkumar Pandian told reporters on Wednesday.

"Around five to six cricketers, including from Gujarat and some other states, had invested in Zala's Ponzi scheme. Their investment varies from a couple of lakhs to Rs 2 crore. Many a times, scamsters convince celebrities to invest in their schemes to establish their credibility among the masses," the official said.

Declining to give names of these cricketers, Pandian said they will be called for questioning to find out the reasons for investing in a fraudulent scheme.

"We haven't come across any other celebrities who have invested in this plan, besides cricket players. Our investigation also revealed that many schoolteachers from Gujarat had invested in the Ponzi scheme," the official informed.

Admitting that victims were not coming forward to file complaints due to several reasons, Pandian said the police were encouraging the duped people to share information to strengthen the case and secure conviction in court.

On allegations that Zala was associated with the ruling BJP, Pandian said it is wrong to link a criminal with a party.

"It is wrong to associate an individual criminal to any political party or that party's leaders because many people associated with that party are also victims of the scheme," he said.

"So, it is wrong to claim he was associated with a party just because he was seen with two members of that party. We will not take into account party affiliation while taking action against any accused," the senior IPS officer asserted.

A week ago, the CID unearthed transactions of Rs 175 crore in two bank accounts of Zala, who is accused of defrauding people by offering as high as 36 per cent annual return on deposits.

Police have so far registered three FIRs, arrested an agent, and seized Rs 16.37 lakh in cash, besides three laptops, 11 mobile phones, rubber stamps, documents and PAN cards during raids on premises linked to the main accused.

Based on inputs received through an anonymous application, the police put Zala's activities under surveillance a month ago and learnt he had floated a firm, BZ Financial Services, and opened its offices in north Gujarat, Gandhinagar and Vadodara to collect deposits from unsuspecting people, the CID said in a statement.

"Zala used to identify himself as the CEO of BZ Group and would collect deposits from people in an illegal manner as he never had any approval from the RBI or any other authority. To win people's trust, he used to initially pay investors the promised returns. He had appointed agents on commission basis to lure people," it said.