STF nabs kingpin of multi-crore Ponzi scheme from Fatehpur

The officials informed that the accused was arrested at some distance from his native place in Khajuriapur village under Sultanpur Gosh police station in Fatehpur at around 2 pm on Wednesday when he was returning to Delhi after meeting his family members.

LUCKNOW: The kingpin of the multi-crore RKM Ponzi scheme was arrested in the Fatehpur district by the UP Special Task Force (STF) after remaining elusive since 2016, said senior STF officials in Lucknow. They said the accused had changed his look and identity to that of a Sikh to evade arrest and had been dodging the police for eight long years.

The accused developed his communication skills while working in Mumbai and then returned to his native place to establish an NGO named RKM in 2010. (Sourced)

In a press note, the STF officials said the accused, Rajesh Maurya alias Raj Singh, had been living in Delhi with the changed identity and appearance of a Sikh, wearing a turban and sporting a long beard for the past several years. They said the accused landed in the police net when he returned to Fatehpur to meet his family members, believing that nobody would be able to identify him in his altered look. The accused also had a reward of ₹25,000 on his head.

The officials informed that the accused was arrested at some distance from his native place in Khajuriapur village under Sultanpur Gosh police station in Fatehpur at around 2 pm on Wednesday when he was returning to Delhi after meeting his family members.

Sharing further details, an STF official said the accused was just an intermediate pass. After completing his schooling, he shifted to Mumbai and worked as a salesman in different firms for some years. He developed his communication skills while working in Mumbai and then returned to his native place to establish an NGO named RKM in 2010.

He thereafter floated a Ponzi scheme, assuring investors that they could double their money in a short term and collected several crore rupees within a few years. He then vanished with the investors’ money in 2015, after which as many as eleven criminal cases were lodged against him and his aides between 2015 and 2020 in Fatehpur, Prayagraj, Kaushambi, Mirzapur, and Lucknow.