The Gandhinagar Zone CID (Crime) has registered three FIRs since November 27 against Bhupendra Singh Jala, “CEO” of Sabarkantha-based BZ Financial Services and BZ Group, for his alleged involvement in a Ponzi scheme.
In a media interaction on Wednesday, Additional Director General of Police, CID Crime and Railways, Rajkumar Pandian said that “cricketers” and “teachers” from many states had invested in the scheme.
In response to a question, Pandian said, ‘About 5-6 cricketers had invested up to two crore rupees in this firm. These cricketers are from Gujarat as well as other states, he said.
While refusing to reveal the names of the cricketers, ADGP Pandian said, “It is possible that they were invested to increase the credibility of the scheme but we are still investigating it.”
Meanwhile, alleging political links, Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi demanded a “thorough investigation of those associated with the network”.
When asked about the political affiliation of the accused, Pandian said, ‘It is wrong to associate the criminal with any political party. There are also victims belonging to the same party. After arresting the main accused, we will interrogate him and find out who was involved in the parties. Action will be taken if there is an allegation.”
Pandian said, “We have identified 27 accounts, including demat accounts, and 22 properties in different districts will be attached… We are also investigating the irregularities in the school run by the accused.”
Pandian further said, “We have filed another FIR on the basis of the victim, Suresh Bhai, who claimed that he was cheated of Rs 5 lakh. We are also trying to contact other victims. There is another victim who has come forward… I appeal to people to come forward to file complaints under the GPID (Gujarat Protection of Interest of Depositors) Act. We will try to recover the victim’s money by confiscating the property.”
A week ago, the CID had detected transactions worth Rs 175 crore in two bank accounts of Jala, who allegedly duped people by offering more than 36 per cent annual returns on deposits.
Besides registering three FIRs, the police arrested an agent, and seized Rs 16.37 lakh in cash besides three laptops, 11 mobile phones, rubber stamps, documents and PAN cards during raids at the premises linked to the main accused. Based on information received through an anonymous application, the police had put Jala’s activities under surveillance a month ago and found that he had allegedly opened a firm called BZ Financial Services and had offices in North Gujarat, Gandhinagar and Vadodara to collect deposits, the CID said. In a statement earlier this week.
“Jala used to introduce himself as the CEO of BZ Group and collect deposits from people illegally as he never got approval from RBI…He used to give promised returns to the investors initially to win people’s trust. He had appointed agents on commission basis to lure people,” the statement said.
(with PTI input)