E-Paper
Sophisticated investment fraud: Five couples among 11 booked in Ludhiana for duping investors of ₹1.2 crore
Cyber Crime police in Khanna have filed a case against 11 individuals for a vermicompost investment fraud, cheating investors of over ₹1.22 crore.
A sophisticated investment fraud allegedly carried out in the name of vermicompost fertiliser production has come to light, with the Cyber Crime police station in Khanna registering a case against 11 accused, including five couples, for cheating investors of more than ₹1.22 crore.
The accused have been identified as Kapil Sharma of Sahizada Ajit Singh Nagar, his wife Monika Sharma; Onkar Singh of Basant Avenue, Dugri, his wife Mandeep Kaur; Ajit Singh of Kharar, his wife Kulwinder Kaur; Vikas Malik of Uttar Pradesh, his wife Anuradha Malik; Parveen Kumar of Moradabad, his wife Dipri and aide DP Thakur.
According to police, the accused lured unsuspecting investors by presenting what appeared to be a legitimate agricultural business model, promising unusually high and assured monthly returns.
The case was registered following a complaint by Pankaj Kumar Gautam, a resident of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar in Doraha.
According to the FIR, the accused presented themselves as entrepreneurs running multiple companies involved in the production and sale of vermicompost fertiliser, claiming the business was expanding rapidly.
To build credibility, the accused allegedly claimed that their fertiliser production units had large-scale supply contracts with the Government of Nagaland and the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) Ludhiana. Copies of purported agreements and bills were shown to investors to reinforce the impression that the business was backed by established institutions.
They also reportedly claimed that a collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur was in the pipeline.
The complainant stated that under the scheme, investors were told that an investment of ₹2.5 lakh would generate ₹20,000 per month for 25 months, with 5% deducted as TDS and the remaining ₹19,000 credited to their bank accounts. To attract larger investments, the accused introduced a “group investment” option in which three people investing through a single ID were promised ₹30,000 per month for the same duration, he said.
The accused justified these returns by claiming that the production cost of vermicompost was just ₹4 per kilogram, while the selling price ranged between ₹38 and ₹40 per kilogram, ensuring large profit margins that could be shared with investors.
According to the complaint, the accused initially returned small payments to investors for a few months to gain confidence. However, the payments later stopped, and the accused allegedly diverted the funds for personal use.
Police investigations revealed that the group collected approximately ₹1.94 crore from investors. While about ₹72.47 lakh was returned without profit or interest, the remaining ₹1.22 crore was allegedly misappropriated.
The police officials further suspect that part of the money was diverted into cryptocurrency investments and transferred to the accounts of family members and associates.
The investigation office said that an FIR under Sections 406, 409, 420, 120-B of IPC and section 66 D of Information and Technology Act has been lodged against the accused. The compliant was lodged in 2024 and FIR has been registered following an investigation. The accused were summoned several times to join the investigation, but they did not appear, the police added.
