Police bust Ponzi scheme run by techie

Jnanabharathi police have registered a case against a techie and his family who cheated hundreds of people in the name of investment with higher returns.

DCP (West) Sanjeev M Patil said the accused Patel Anand, his wife Gangambike, daughters Geetha and Pushpa, brother-in-law Umashakar and four employees were booked for cheating after a complaint from Deepak, an investor residing in Basaveshwara Nagar.

Deepak claimed that he had invested Rs 10 lakh in Anand’s chit funds through Vijaya Bank in Basaveshwara Nagar in 2018. While he received the returns till February, the payments stopped afterwards. He said the chit fund owed him Rs 17 lakh in total.

Patil said Anand, a techie with UCO software company, ran Aishwarya Lakshmi Chit funds in M Vishweshwaraiah Layout. He offered to pay Rs 2,500 monthly interest to those investing Rs 1 lakh. Though he paid the investors till February, he later stopped payments citing the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown.

Anand told depositors that he invested their money in other companies such as real-estate firms to afford the 2.5% interest and assured to share all the profits. Trusting his offer, hundreds of investors deposited money and were getting their returns regularly till February.

Police are recording the statements of investors allegedly cheated by Patel Anand and are investigating the case. The DCP has asked victims cheated by the accused to contact the Jnanabharathi Police station and give statements with investment documents.