Two founders of a sham company, who reportedly duped around 600 people to the tune of about Rs 100 crore, were arrested, police said here on Monday.
The accused were identified as Rajesh Mishra and DD Soni. Mishra was nabbed from Darbhanga in Bihar while Soni was nabbed from Madhya Pradesh’s Dindori.
According to police, the accused had opened a shop by the name ‘Sure Mart and wealth’ in Anand Nagar Telibandha, where they used to sell groceries and other items on a subsidized rate.
“The accused had duped large number of individuals in Dhamtari, Balod, Janjgir Champa, Durg and Raipur districts,” Superintendent of Police (SP) Raipur Arif Sheikh told reporters.
The accused had made very elaborate plan and ran several schemes for cheating people in the name of attractive returns on their investments, the SP said.
They had even appointed trainer, team leader, business representatives, for convincing people to invest in their company, the SP added.
The accused used to tell investors that they were following chain marketing and pyramid structure business style. When the investors raised suspicion over the high rate of return, they convinced them by telling that their company purchased products directly from manufacturers and were also dealing into share market, the SP said.
In the name of rolling out franchises they had taken Rs 30 to 35 lakh from different individuals. They used to offer life-time membership at a fee of Rs 12,000 wherein the members were supposed to get groceries and other daily use products in a very subsidized rate apart from earning golden points, which could be converted into cash, the SP revealed.
For few months, the Ponzi company provided returns to the investors. However, later they ran away with the money, the SP said, while adding they have been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).