Dehradun, July 10 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday filed a chargesheet in a Special Court here against 18 accused in the Rs 400 crore Loni Urban Multi State Credit and Thrift Co-operative Society (LUCC) chit fund scam.

Those named in the chargesheet include Sameer Agrawal, Shadab Husain, Uttam Kumar Singh Rajpoot, Sania Agrawal w/o Sameer Agrawal, Maya Singh Rajpoot w/o Uttam Kumar Singh Rajpoot, Jitendra Singh Niranjan, Dinesh Singh, Girish Chand Singh Bisht, Urmila Bisht, Jagmohan Bisht, Mamta Bhandari, Tarun Kumar Maurya, Gaurav @ Gaurav Rohilla, Sushil Gokharoo, Kishanlal Udaylal Jain, Pankaj Kushal Singh Jain, Rajendra Singh Bisht and Loni Urban Multi State Credit and Thrift Co-operative Society (LUCC), said the CBI.

The accused have been booked under various sections of the IPC, BNS and Uttarakhand Protection of Interests of Depositors Act and Banning of Unregulated Deposits Schemes Act, the CBI said.

Investigation revealed that more than 1 lakh depositors were lured to invest in various unregulated deposit schemes of LUCC, the CBI said.

The total investment/deposits made by these depositors is to the tune of Rs 800 crore approximately. Part repayments were made by LUCC to some of the depositors, but the fraud amount is more than Rs 400 crore, the CBI said.

Investigation revealed that the main accused, Sameer Agrawal, a resident of Mumbai, controlled the management and decision-making of the LUCC. He operated the unregulated deposit schemes and collected around Rs 800 crore from the depositors of Uttarakhand.

He later opened the bank accounts of 10 shell firms in conspiracy with Kishanlal Udyalal Jain and Pankaj Kushal Singh Jain for diversion and misappropriation of funds of depositors of Uttarakhand collected by LUCC, said the CBI.

Investigation revealed that he and his wife, Saniya Agrawal, have absconded abroad. The CBI has issued notices and circulars against them so that they can be brought back to face the legal process.

During the investigation, seven accused persons, namely Tarun Kumar Maurya, Mamta Bhandari, Gaurav @ Gaurav Rohila, Rajendra Singh Bisht, Sushil Kumar Gokharoo, Kishanlal Udaylal Jain and Pankaj Kushal Singh Jain, were arrested by the CBI. All of them are in judicial custody, the agency said.

So far, provisional attachment orders have been issued in respect of 29 properties owned by the accused, the CBI said.

–IANS

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