2 held for duping people in several states of Rs 42,000 crore

Two men have been arrested for allegedly cheating thousands of people in several states of approximately Rs 42,000 crore by promising them good returns through a ponzi scheme, police said on Friday.

The two accused, directors of a Uttar Pradesh-based private company named M/s Garvit Innovative Promoters Limited, have been identified as Sanjay Bhati and Rajesh Bhardwaj, they said.

They were arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police.

Police said their company had its office registered in Gautam Buddh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh.

A probe was initiated by the police after they received complaints from several victims, who alleged that Bhati's company had duped them.

Elaborating on the duo's modus operandi, Joint Commissioner of Police (EOW) Dr O P Mishra said the accused induced their victims to invest Rs 62,000 for a bike to get an assured return of Rs 9,500 per month, including the principle and rental income on the bike, till one year.

As the offer was lucrative, a number of victims invested their hard money in this scheme, the DCP said.

"In January 2019, the company launched an electric-bike scheme. In this scheme, they again provided a lucrative offer to invest Rs 1.24 lakhs for a bike and get and assured return of Rs 17,000 per month till one year.

"Further, the accused induced more return on more investments. Initially, the company had repaid the assured amount to the investors but after winning their confidence, they defaulted and absconded," he said.

During investigation, it emerged that approximately 8,000 complainants are from Delhi while various other cases are registered in Noida as well as in other states against the company based on the statement of victims, the officer said.

Based on the analysis of bank account details of the company and the response sought from the Reserve Bank of India, it was revealed that the company was not registered with RBI as a Non Banking Financial Company and was not authorized to collect money from public, police said.