40-year-old man dupes over 2 dozen people of Rs 50 lakh with chit-fund scheme; arrested

 A 40-year-old man in the national capital allegedly duped at least 24 people, mostly the ones who resided in his neighbourhood, to the tune of over Rs 50 lakh after floating a scheme to invest in shares. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police, after receiving complaints from over two dozen people, nabbed the accused on Wednesday.

The accused had been identified as Mool Chand (40), a resident of Sonia Vihar, northeast Delhi. Police said a chit-fund scheme was launched by Chand in August 2019. He did so to make easy money by targeting people in his neighbourhood. He asked investors to purchase 20 shares, each worth Rs 10,000, for a duration of 20 months. The investors were told that the loan-seekers would be given the collected amount as loans at a fixed monthly interest rate. Once the scheme matured, the collected interest amount was to be distributed among the investors. Moreover, the monthly deposit was collected by Chand in cash. He also maintained records of the investors and the respective shares they had.

Earlier this month, the accused sold his house and fled with his family. He took the money with him that he had managed to collect since 2019. Subsequently, nearly 24 people approached the EOW with their complaint, following which a case was registered and efforts were initiated to nab the accused.

“Some investors were given cheques as security against their investments. But when the scheme matured and the investors went to the bank to withdraw the money, the cheques bounced. As the investors started demanding their money back, Chand fled with his family,” the report quoted additional commissioner of police (EOW) RK Singh as saying