The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police on Tuesday said it has arrested the president of a co-operative society for allegedly swindling over Rs 3 crore from at least 45 people on the pretext of high returns from investments.

 Deputy Commissioner of Police (EOW) Vikram K Porwal said the accused Vinay Kumar Mishra fraudulently and dishonestly induced the victims to invest their money into the schemes of the society with the assurance of high profit in future.

 After getting the deposits from the public, Mishra used the duped money for his personal benefits, Porwal said.

 The DCP said daily wagers were the accused's target community. By showing rosy pictures to such individuals, he lured them into gaining high returns and duped many people to the tune of Rs 3.05 crore.

 The officer said 45 people have already come forward with complaints against him and the number of victims might go up.

 The matter came to fore when a few investors approached the EOW in May. A team of EOW, arrested him last week from West Bengal's Jalpaiguri.

 Another officer said Mishra, a native of Muzaffarpur in Bihar, worked as a branch in-charge in a company which used to take deposits from the public on the pretext of investment into the schemes. After his tenure at the company, he started his own co-operative society.

 In the capacity of president of Mithila Co-operative Thrift and Credit Society, Mishra started duping individuals of crores of rupees, the officer said.

 Police said Mishra is being interrogated to ascertain diversion as well as usage of the funds collected from the victims, to unearth the criminal conspiracy hatched by him and his other accomplices, to recover the documents pertaining to the case.