Six persons who had set up an office in New Town have been arrested for allegedly duping a resident of Hooghly of more than Rs 2 crore by promising huge returns on his investment within a very short time, police said.
The men and women were arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by Hooghly resident Jawahar Lal Rakshit with New Town police station. Rakshit said in the complaint the accused as posed as “investment brokers and wealth portfolio managers” while interacting with him.
They ran an office called Ecps Market Seller India at the PS Qube building in New Town, a stone’s throw from City Centre II, he mentioned in the complaint.
A senior officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said the men and women had convinced Rakshit that if he had invested with their “firm” for 31 days or more, his deposit would earn an interest rate of at least 40 per cent.
“Rakshit invested Rs 2.09 crore and paid the amount at the New Town office. He did not get the returns as promised. He waited for several days but all those he had been in touch with did not receive his calls,” said the officer.
Realising that he had been duped, Rakshit lodged a complaint with New Town police station a few months after he had paid the money.
The arrested men and women have been identified as Mani Mayank, Ravi Chowdhury, Priya Bhattacharya Sarkar, Tajdar Hossain Ansari, Kaushik Kabiraj and Arpita Chatterjee.
“We are quite sure that there are many who have been cheated in a similar manner. We are trying to arrest the others involved in this racket,” the officer said.
A senior officer of the commissionerate said one should exercise caution and not invest in schemes that seem too good, offering returns that defy the market trend.