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The Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police has arrested a 51-year-old declared offender, identified as Visarjan, for allegedly cheating more than 500 people out of approximately 3.23 crore rupees under the guise of high-yield investment schemes, officials said. The accused, who had been evading law enforcement agencies for nearly eight years, was tracked down and apprehended on October 29 from the Aliganj area in the Ambedkar Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh. According to senior police officials, Visarjan was a director of M/s Progress Producer Company Limited and had been on the run ever since criminal proceedings were initiated against the company’s executive board.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Economic Offences Wing) Mohammad Irshad Haider stated that the formal case was initially registered in the year 2018 following a specific complaint lodged by an investor named Gulshan Avtar. Subsequent inquiries into the firm’s activities prompted a total of 531 other victims to step forward and submit detailed formal complaints regarding their lost funds. The victims reported that the company directors systematically lured ordinary citizens into putting their hard-earned money into fraudulent investment vehicles, guaranteeing unrealistic returns and high interest dividends.
Unregulated Investment Schemes Promising Substantial Returns
The company targeted small depositors and middle-class households by floating schemes designed to resemble legitimate financial products, such as fixed deposits, recurring deposits, and regular monthly income plans. Victims were assured that these deposits carried guaranteed safety alongside significantly higher interest rates than standard commercial banking options. Persuaded by these assurances, hundreds of investors deposited their personal savings directly with the firm’s administrative branches.
However, once the accumulated pool of public deposits crossed the 3.23 crore rupee threshold, the firm abruptly shut down its operations, locked its commercial offices, and the management disappeared without paying either the promised interest or the original principal sums. The abrupt closure left depositors in severe distress, leading to multiple police complaints and initiating a wide-ranging financial fraud inquiry by the specialized economic investigation unit.
Evasion Strategy and New Identity in Basti
Following the filing of the case, Visarjan completely ignored lawful summons, refused to cooperate with the ongoing inquiry, and deliberately avoided all legal processes. Consequently, a designated court declared him an absconding offender. To continuously evade arrest by Delhi Police teams, the accused severed old ties, abandoned his known residences, and relocated to the Basti district of Uttar Pradesh to conceal his whereabouts.
While staying under the radar in Basti, Visarjan took up employment as an agent selling life insurance policies to earn a regular livelihood and mask his past criminal activities. Investigators assigned to track absconding offenders continued gathering ground intelligence across eastern Uttar Pradesh, ultimately establishing his trail and executing the arrest in neighboring Ambedkar Nagar.
Operations Run Without Reserve Bank Clearance
Detailed financial investigations revealed that Progress Producer Company Limited was operating in total violation of federal financial regulations, as it possessed no authorization or clearance from the Reserve Bank of India to collect public deposits. Despite lacking this mandatory central bank approval, the enterprise illegally marketed speculative investment schemes across several regions.
Police officials noted that two co-accused directors associated with the fraudulent enterprise, identified as Murari Kumar Srivastava and Vikas Havaldar, had previously been arrested in connection with the scam. With Visarjan now in custody after eight years on the run, authorities are concluding the final procedural requirements concerning the multi-crore investment racket.
