A 64-year-old jeweller and his daughter-in-law have been arrested for allegedly duping nearly 350 people by luring them into a scheme where they promised them gifts and gold.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-West) Devender Arya said that the accused have been identified as Murari Agarwal and Kavita Agarwal (33).
One absconding
The jeweller’s son, Vivek Agarwal, is absconding and teams are looking for him, Mr. Arya said.
A senior officer said that a few victims had approached the police in June and told them that they were asked by Vivek to pool in money for a kitty, which would run for 20 months.
“They asked the people to invest ₹1,000 to ₹5,000 monthly in return of gifts and gold, but fled with their money,” he said.
Explaining the modus operandi, the police said that the accused allegedly gave the victims tokens.
Lucky draw
They allegedly assured the victims that they would conduct a lucky draw every month and the winners would be given gifts and the rest would get gold worth the money invested in 20 months.
However, when the lucky draw was conducted, one of their accomplices would always win, the victims alleged.
Subsequently, the accused allegedly asked the victims to return the token, which they had given claiming that he had to pay GST. The accused then fled from Sagarpur and could not be contacted after which the victims approached the police on June 8. Based on the complaint, a case under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code was registered and an investigation was taken up.
Fled to Jaipur
During the probe, it was found that the accused family had fled to Jaipur.
Several raids were conducted after which Murari and his daughter-in-law Kavita were arrested on August 8 and brought to Delhi. They were produced before the court on August 10 and the police sought a two-day custody.
