Lalitpur (Uttar Pradesh): The city police on Wednesday claimed to have arrested the mastermind who duped people of crores of rupees by getting their money deposited in a fake chit fund company, LUCC. The police announced a reward of Rs 35,000 for the arrest of Ravishankar Tiwari, resident of Lekhpal Colony under Ramnagar Kotwali.
The cops confiscated luxury cars worth crores of rupees and documents from Tiwari’s possession. At the time of arrest, Tiwari was living in 20, Geet Green Colony, under Karond police station, Nishatpura, Bhopal.
A complaint was lodged against Tiwari, Jagat Singh and Alok Jain who defrauded hundreds of people. They used to take money from people with the help of fake documents. But when the depositors demanded their money back, the LUCC officials used to hurl abuses at them, and, sometimes, even threatened them with dire consequences. Eight persons Neeraj Jain, Jagat Singh, Alok Jain, Rahul Tiwari, Ramnaresh Sahu, Dwarika Prasad Jha and Mahesh Prasad Rajak were already arrested and sent to jail. An SIT was set up to arrest the main culprit.
When the police quizzed Tiwari, he said as his financial condition had not been good, he was associated with a firm, Advantage, through his friend Alok Jain. He then began to give attractive offers to the people, advising them to deposit money in Advantage. In this way, he got Rs 6 crore deposited in the company from 2009 to 2012 through fraudulent means. The company was giving him a huge commission, Tiwari said, adding that when the people wanted their money back, the director of Advantage, Sameer Agarwal, closed the firm.
According to Tiwari, Agarwal set up another company, Apsan One, in 2012 and he (Tiwari) got Rs 50-60 crore deposited in it. In 2016, Agarwal closed the company. Tiwari further said Agarwal had opened another chit fund company LUCC and appointed directors from other states by fraudulently using the Adhar cards and PAN cards. He said he had purchased properties, including hotels, worth crores of rupees in Lalitpur, Bhopal and Indore. Tiwari further said whenever the depositors wanted their money back they closed the company and set up another firm.
