Seven of Ghaziabad family booked for ₹ 50-cr cheating

NEW DELHI:: Seven members of a Ghaziabad family have been booked on the charge of duping over 50 people of Rs 50 crore through Ponzi schemes, police said on Wednesday.

A manhunt has been launched to arrest the accused, who were absconding for the last three months, a senior police officer said.

A case of cheating and criminal breach of trust was registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police against alleged mastermind Vishal Uppal, Vivek Uppal, Ninya Uppal, Vikas Uppal, Smariddi Uppal, Sunita Uppal and Simran Uppal, who are residents of Ramprasth Colony in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.

Police said Shyam Sunder Sachdeva, a property dealer who is resident of Jain Nagar in Karala area of north-west Delhi, filed a police complaint on September 8 against the family at the EOW.

“Sachdeva said the accused duped him of Rs 1.94 crore. He also accused Vishal Uppal of duping over 50 other persons of over Rs 50 crore on the pretext of holding monthly lucky draws, and investments in shares and gold schemes,” a senior police officer said.

As per the FIR, Vishal Uppal had morphed photographs to impress his potential victims that he knew various political leader and even claimed good relations with a prominent political family. The alleged victims of the family ranged from small-time tea vendors to MNC executives and businessman and included Medha Kumar, Roma Aggarwal, S.K. Aggarwal, Surender Aggarwal, Subodh Kumar, Sudha Jain, Neeraj, Rajender Kumar, and Sanjeev Kumar who were duped of lakhs of rupees. Vishal Uppal was not returning the victim’s money since 2016 on one pretext or the other and his and his family members’ whereabouts were not known since June 10, the officer said.

A MANHUNT HAS BEEN LAUNCHED TO ARREST THE ACCUSED, WHO WERE ABSCONDING FOR THE LAST 3 MONTHS, A SENIOR POLICE OFFICER SAID.