Master cheats held

The Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police Crime Branch arrested two persons, including a woman, for allegedly duping over 2,000 people of around Rs 100 crore by promising enhanced returns on their investments.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police Crime Branch arrested two persons, including a woman, for allegedly duping over 2,000 people of around Rs 100 crore by promising enhanced returns on their investments.

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According to police, Manmohan Singh (42) and Akansha Sharma (26) were apprehended for their alleged involvement in the fraud.

“Singh was the Managing Director of Metro Cruise Ltd while Sharma was its Director. They allegedly cheated people by luring them to join a car rental service and assuring them a monthly return on their investment,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Neeraj Thakur.

The arrests came following inputs that the two were hiding in Shalimar Bagh.

“Singh floated the company in 2008. He gave attractive advertisements in newspapers and induced a large number of people to invest Rs 1.05 lakh and promised high returns of 48 per cent per annum,” Thakur said.

“The promise was that if a person invested Rs 1.30 lakh, he would get Rs 4,000 interest and Rs 3,000 from his capital every month. In addition, Rs 50,000 would be given as bonus after 5 years. However, when the RBI objected to this scheme as it flouted their guidelines, the company stopped paying money to investors and the company officials went into hiding,” added Thakur.

The police said Singh is a graduate and initially, he started a tour and travels company but later, he started Metro Cruise Limited in which he included Food Bazar, Real Estate, and Cab services.

According to police, Sharma is a graduate in commerce from Delhi University.

Previously, she worked with a prominent company's real estate division as its Business Development Officer. Her father is employed with the Reserve Bank of India.

In 2008, she joined Metro Cruise Ltd and became its director in Feb 2009 because she works actively to attract members for Metro Cruise and its units.