Lucknow: The Economic Offences Wing of UP Police on Friday arrested the director of a company that allegedly duped investors of over Rs 3.6 crore by floating higher returns schemes.The accused, Santosh Kishan Sapkale, 48, of Surat carried a reward of Rs 25,000. He was arrested from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Park in Surat. He had been frequently changing locations to evade arrest, said police.A case against the comapny had been registered at the EOW police station in Varanasi. EOW officials said Sapkale and his associates had floated companies and registered them for livestock-related activities such as goat, poultry, and dairy farming, but used them to run fraudulent investment schemes instead.The company allegedly lured investors by promising to double their money within five years. Without obtaining mandatory registration from the Reserve Bank of India, the accused operated illegal non-banking financial activities in violation of Section 45I(A) of the RBI Act.To expand their network, the accused appointed agents and field leaders across multiple states, including UP, Odisha, West Bengal and Maharashtra, and widely promoted their schemes. Funds were collected from investors through bonds and other instruments.However, upon maturity, investors were neither repaid nor compensated. Cheques issued by the company bounced.
