Uttar Pradesh police nab fraudster in Goa

The Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh Police has arrested Jagmohan Chawla, accused of duping investors across the country and wanted for a decade, from Goa, authorities said on Saturday.

He was produced in a Goa court and brought to Lucknow on Saturday on a transit remand.

Chawla is accused of cheating many through his finance companies in Delhi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, police said.

"The police were searching for him for the past 10 years after the first case was lodged against him in Lucknow in 1998," said a press release from the Director General of Police Headquarters.

Police said four other cases were later registered against him and he allegedly embezzled around Rs.600 million from investors in Lucknow.

Chawla used to collect money by promising high returns. Investors filed complaints against him after he failed to pay back.

"His finance companies, Rockland Leasing and Rockland Thermonix, had nearly 50 branches in many parts of the country," Additional Superintendent of Police Manoj Jha told IANS.

Chawla's son Arun Chawla and his associate Sandhya Gupta were arrested from Delhi and Noida in 2007 and 2006 respectively, he added.

The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) had been conducting the investigation but it sought the assistance of the STF after it failed to get Chawla.

Chawla would now be interrogated by the EOW for recovering the money.