Over 23K investors duped in Ponzi scam

In the ongoing investigation of the Khanna police in the ‘Generation Organic Farming Firm’ Ponzi scheme case, in which fraudulent companies were cheating innocent people through fake investment schemes, they found as many as 23,249 investors had invested in the alleged fake firms of the accused and they were cheated of over Rs 170 crore.

Khanna SSP Jyoti Yadav while addressing a press conference regarding the matter on Thursday said the main firm lured innocent people by promising 8 per cent monthly returns on investments — claiming that money invested in the company would double in 25 months.

They deceived investors by saying the firm was engaged in the organic product business, including supplying of vermicompost manure and developing organic farming projects worth ?20 lakh each. However, they failed to fulfil their promises.

Yadav said the suspects later invested the duped money into buying land, which they resold at higher prices, earning threefold profits. So far, eight persons were arrested and raids were going on to nab remaining suspects.

During the investigation, the police seized laptops, CPUs, monitors, keyboards and mobiles from the firm’s office.

Records obtained from the Registrar of Firms and Registrar of Companies revealed nine other related firms linked to the suspects, Dr Yadav said.

“A total of 44 bank accounts (21 company 23 personal) have been frozen, holding ?1.15 crore. It was found that fake UDYAM certificates were used to open company accounts under the same address, which was falsely shown as an office. Additionally, six benami (proxy) properties had been traced and verified,” the SSP said.

She said the fake firms had total 23,249 investors who invested over ?170 crore.

The police have urged victims who were cheated by “Generation Organic Farming Firm” to

contact the Special Investigation Team to record their statements under Section 180 of the BNSS. Further, verification of benami assets is ongoing and additional arrests are expected soon.

The nabbed suspects were identified as Avtar Singh of Samrala, Bikramjit Singh and Harpreet Singh of Gailewal, Samrala, Amit Khullar of Ferozepur, Jatinder Singh, alias Methu, of Khanna Khamo, Patiala, Jaspreet Singh, alias Jassi, of Samrala, Jagat Singh of Prem Street, Khanna, and Dina Dayal Verma of Kucha Partap, Khanna.