A 51-year-old businessman, who had allegedly duped nearly 900 investors of about Rs 15 crore on the pretext of windfall gains, has been arrested, a senior police official said today.
Kamal Kant Kaushik, who carried a cash reward of Rs 50,000 on his head, was nabbed from Delhi on Thursday for inducing a large number of victims to invest on the pretext of high returns and other fraudulent schemes being run by him and his associates, said Deputy Commissioner of Delhi Police (EOW) Mangesh Kashyap.
"Earlier, a large number of complaints were received in EOW alleging that the directors and other officials of the Indus Group of companies, having its office at Ansal Tower, Nehru Place, had induced them through brochures, newspapers, tele-calling and websites to invest their hard-earned money in their company," said Kashyap.
The company presented a picture that it was carrying on the business of cab booking, providing vehicles on contract or hire basis to corporate houses, MNCs and hotels, national or international tourists and real estates.
The management of the alleged company M/s Indus Car and Air Rentals India Ltd floated various schemes of investment in the name of "Indus Mutual Growth Plans" for general public and approached the public through advisements and direct tele-calling for making investments of Rs 1,25,000 to Rs 5,45,000 for a period of five-year with guaranteed returns of Rs 8200 to Rs 36,500 per month, he added.
Later, the company introduced 1-3 years plans. The company issued receipts of payments, copy of agreement regarding the investments and post-dated cheques for their repayments. Some of the cheques were initially honoured and by this way accused persons gained the confidence of the investors, he said while explaining the modus operandi of the company.
However, later on the cheques started bouncing on presentation. To modify the investment, the company called off their "Mutual Growth Plans Schemes" and contacted the investor to settle their investment. Accordingly, full and final settlements were signed with investors and cheques were issued which included their invested amount and interest at the rate of 12 per cent per annum for the period the money was invested.
During the settlements, the original agreement, receipt issued by the company and PDCs were taken back by the company. On presentation, the cheques of settled amount in the banks were dishonoured. Accordingly, a case was registered by the EOW, he said.
"During investigation, it was found that S R Nandan, Vimal Aggarwal, Kamal Kant Kaushik and Ram Kumar Pathak formed a company in the name of M/s Indus Car & Air Rentals India Pvt Ltd and approximately 900 investors had invested around Rs 15 crore in the company. So far about 150 complaints have been received," said Kashyap.
