New Delhi: The CBI has arrested from Mumbai two alleged masterminds of the Rs 800 crore LUCC chitfund scam in Uttarakhand, officials said on Tuesday.
It is alleged that over one lakh investors of the Loni Urban Multi State Credit and Thrift Co-operative Society (LUCC) were cheated to the tune of Rs 800 crore with the promise of lucrative returns.
The alleged masterminds Kishan Jain and Pankaj Jain absconded after the Uttarakhand State Police registered 18 FIRs in this scam, they said.
The Uttarakhand High Court handed over the cases to the CBI in November last year, they said.
The agency traced them in Mumbai where they were arrested on Monday, the CBI spokesperson said in a statement.
"Their arrests were made after sustained and intensive efforts by the investigating team involving analysis of voluminous financial records, examination of bank transactions, collection of oral evidence and extensive field investigation conducted across different States of the country," the statement said..
The agency said the case pertains to allegations of illegal collection of public deposits, cheating, criminal breach of trust, criminal conspiracy, operation of unregulated deposit schemes, misappropriation of funds etc. by LUCC, affecting a large number of depositors across multiple districts of Uttarakhand.
"Investigation, so far, has brought forth an unprecedented scale of victimisation of public in the state of Uttarakhand in which a very large number of investors (more than one lakh approx) were lured to invest in various unregulated deposit schemes of LUCC," the spokesperson said.
The total investment made by these depositors is estimated to be approximately Rs 800 crore, the spokesperson said.
