STF arrests man for ponzi scheme

ALLAHABAD: The Special Task Force (

STF

) on Saturday arrested one of the four directors of a company operating a Rs 150 crore online ponzi scheme. The accused made people invest in Hindi and

Bhojpuri

film industry through the company head-quartered in Lucknow.

The accused, identified as Shatrughan T Singh of Varanasi, had worked in several film companies in Mumbai before he partnered with Sarika Suman alias Arpita Mali, Arun Gautam and Pradeep Sharma for starting the company. They invited Hindi and Bhojpuri actors in seminars held in prominent hotels of big cities with the aim of impressing people enough to make them invest through an online scheme they had launched to funnel the money.

ASP STF Praveen Singh Chauhan said, “Shatrughan alongwith Sarika, Arun Gautam and Pradeep Sharma had opened a company named ‘Emperor Media and Entertainment Private Limited’ at Lucknow. They used to convince people through their agents that it was a government entity which bought films from producers and released them under their banner. In this manner they had taken Rs. 150-200 crore from people across the country.”

“About 16 investors filed complaints in Vibhuti Khand police station of Lucknow and Civil Lines police station of Allahabad,” Chauhan said and added that FIRs mentioned the name of all the accused.

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