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Actors Shreyas Talpade, Alok Nath among 46 booked by CBI in cooperative society fraud case
Shreyas Talpade and Alok Nath were the brand ambassadors of the cooperative society, officials said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered an FIR against 46 people, including noted actors Shreyas Talpade and Alok Nath, in a fraud case involving a cooperative society that allegedly collected deposits from investors in Uttarakhand and did not pay them returns.
The FIR against directors, officer bearers and local agents of Loni Urban Multi-State Credit & Thrift Co-operative Society (LUCC) was registered in compliance with an Uttarakhand high court order in September.
Sameer Aggarwal, a resident of Mumbai, is mentioned as the key accused, apart from local agents of the society such as Girish Chand Singh Bisht, Urmila Bisht, Jagmohan Bisht, Anita Negi, residents of Dehradun.
Talpade and Nath were the brand ambassadors of the cooperative society, officials said.
The FIR was registered under sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 61 (2) (criminal conspiracy), 111 (2) (organised crime), 316 (criminal breach of trust), 318 (4) (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 336 (forgery), 338 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 340 (2) (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), 351 (3) (criminal intimidation), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), relevant sections of the Uttar Pradesh Industrial Disputes Act, and Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act on Thursday at anti-corruption branch (ACB) of CBI in Dehradun.
While Talpade did not respond to calls by HT despite repeated attempts, Nath said the FIR against him was baseless and false, and that the law will take its own course.
It is alleged that the operators of LUCC duped a large number of people in the state by luring them into investing in their cooperative society with promises of high returns through its 35 branches. Acting through local managers and agents, the society invited public deposits, offering attractive returns and commissions on collections.
The victims — most of whom are unemployed individuals, homemakers, or retired persons — were persuaded to deposit their savings and further encouraged to induce their acquaintances and relatives to invest additional amounts. This resulted in investments running into several crores of rupees. However, the society failed to make repayments upon maturity, and its offices were abruptly shut down.
The first FIR in the matter was registered at Kotdwar police station in June 2024 on the complaint of Pauri Garhwal resident Tripti Negi and since then 18 FIRs were registered against office bearers and agents of the cooperative society in Haridwar, Dehradun, Pauri Garhwal, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarkashi, and Rudraprayag districts. At least a dozen people have been arrested in these cases.
In March, Rishikesh resident Ashutosh Negi had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Uttarakhand high court, seeking directions from the court to concerned authorities to take appropriate action in the court. When the PIL was sub judice before the court, the Uttarakhand government gave its approval to transfer the case to the CBI in July. Meanwhile, another PIL was filed in the high court by Dehradun resident Vishal Chhetri and several others with similar allegations. The two PILs were clubbed together.
The petitioners told the court that the local police has failed to take appropriate action in the matter and misappropriation exceeds 500 crores
The high court directed the CBI to take up the matter while hearing the matter in September.
All FIRs registered by the Uttarakhand Police have been clubbed in the CBI FIR, officials said, adding that CBI inspector Ajay Kumar Mishra has been named as the investigative officer (IO) in the case.
A senior official of the Uttarakhand Police said, “They used to lure people to make investments in their cooperative society by promising them high returns. The fraud is estimated to be in hundreds of crores.”
