Three members of a family booked for duping over a dozen of ₹35L

According to the police complaint, in the year 2016 Gupta had informed Veigas about Yashnil Cooperative Credit Society in Vile Parle and that he could earn good returns if he invested in the credit society

Mumbai: Three members of a family, who run a credit cooperative society, are booked for duping over a dozen people to the tune of nearly ₹35.53 lakh by accepting money from them as investment and promising them hefty returns.

Three members of a family booked for duping over a dozen of ₹35L

The duped people, however, haven’t received either the principal amount or the promised interest. Police suspect that the number of victims and the volume of fraud will increase in the coming days.

The complainant Clody Veigas, 61, a resident of Chakala in Andheri East and the accused Sanjog Gupta lives in his neighbourhood.

According to the police complaint, in the year 2016 Gupta had informed Veigas about Yashnil Cooperative Credit Society in Vile Parle and that he could earn good returns if he invested in the credit society.

Gupta is chairman of the credit society, while his wife Nidhi and brother Santosh are treasurer and secretary, respectively. As per the police complaint Gupta offered 15% interest in three months on the amount invested by the 61-year-old.

When investors jointly followed up on the matter with Guptas and demanded their money back, Gupta would buy time, every time investors demanded their money back. Fed up with repeated futile assurances, the investors approached the police and lodged a complaint with the Vile Parle police on Tuesday.

The police have booked Gupta, his wife and brother under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, banker, or merchant or agent), 420 (cheating) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 3 and 4 of Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishment (MPID) Act.