Father-son duo arrested for cheating

NEW DELHI - A father-son duo who floated a fraud investment scheme and cheated thousands of people of a total Rs.120 crore have been arrested, police said Wednesday.

The accused, identified as Bhupinder Pal Singh, 55, and his son Gurkaran Singh, 25, were arrested from Delhi Cantonment area. “Both the accused were wanted in a case registered by the crime branch under various sections of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes( Banning) Act, 1978,” said police.

During interrogation, the duo revealed that they had a jewellery shop in Rajouri Garden in west Delhi. “In 2007, they formed a company in the name of M/s Pavi Overseas Pvt. Ltd. and floated an investment scheme by the name ‘Kanak Dhara’. The accused lured investors on the pretext of giving back manifold returns for their money which turned out to be 1,500 percent to 6,000 percent per annum,” said police.

The scheme floated was a pyramid type of scheme where early and small investors in the initial stages of the scheme are gainers, and the larger numbers and late investors are the victims and losers. The initial depositors are allowed to make gains to attract more and more innocent persons into the trap.

“When the accused had earned enough money, approximately Rs.120 crore and sensed that their deeds were about to be exposed, they closed their office and went into hiding. A reward of Rs.20,000 was announced to get hold of them,” said police.

The accused had lured investors from not only Delhi, but also from Punjab, Mumbai and other places in India. Cases have been registered against them in Punjab as well as in Mumbai and the accused were arrested there earlier and subsequently released on bail. According to police, a CBI case is also pending against them.