U.P EOW Arrests Key Suspects in Pearls Agrotech Case
Uttar Pradesh EOW Arrests Key Suspects in Massive Financial Fraud Cases
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Uttar Pradesh Police has apprehended two key individuals implicated in separate financial frauds totaling thousands of crores, marking significant progress in cracking down on economic crimes, officials announced on Thursday.
In the first case, Gurnam Singh, a prime operator of Pearls Agrotech Corporation Ltd (PACL), was arrested in Ropar, Punjab, on July 9. PACL, originally registered as Gurwant Agrotech Limited in Jaipur, Rajasthan, allegedly operated branches across 10 states, including Uttar Pradesh, without Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) registration under the RBI Act, 1934.
The company is accused of defrauding investors of approximately Rs 49,000 crore by promoting lucrative schemes and promising land plots in exchange for recurring and fixed deposits. “PACL neither delivered the promised plots nor refunded the investments, with its operators shutting down offices and absconding,” said EOW Director General Neera Rawat.
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The Uttar Pradesh government assigned the investigation of PACL’s Jalaun district branch to the EOW, leading to an FIR at the EOW Police Station in Kanpur. The FIR includes charges under the Indian Penal Code for criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery, and criminal conspiracy. Gurnam Singh was among 10 named accused, four of whom, also wanted in CBI cases, are currently in Tihar Jail.
In a separate case, the EOW arrested Prem Prakash Singh, linked to a Rs 250 crore fraud by V-Care Multitrade Pvt. Ltd., on July 9 in Kolkata, West Bengal. Registered in 2008-09 in Delhi NCR and Haryana under the Companies Act, 1956, V-Care Multitrade operated a regional office in Krishnanagar, Lucknow.
The company allegedly enticed investors with promises of benefits for purchasing policies from Reliance Life Insurance, Future Generali Life Insurance, and Aegon Life Insurance through V-Care. “The company collected around Rs 250 crore, embezzled the funds, and shut down its offices,” Rawat stated. A total of 26 cases were filed against V-Care Multitrade at Krishnanagar and Aashiana police stations in Lucknow, with investigations transferred to the EOW in 2015.
Of the 23 identified accused, 19 have been arrested, and charge sheets filed, while one has died. Prem Prakash Singh, a resident of Ranchi, Jharkhand, was among the three remaining absconding accused. The EOW continues its efforts to apprehend the remaining two suspects.
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