CID files first FIR in Gujarat for Adarsh scam

AHMEDABAD: Sleuths of CID (Crime) in Gandhinagar on Tuesday registered an FIR against the office bearers of the Adarsh Credit Cooperative Society in connection with an alleged multi-crore scam by the Ahmedabad-based entity, officials of the agency said, adding that this was the first offence registered against the society in Gujarat.
The offence was registered two years after an inquiry by CID officials following direction from the the office of the central registrar.
“A Khedbrahma resident, Vikram Vaishnav, who was cheated of Rs 63 lakh, is the complainant in the first case against the Adarsh society in Gujarat,” said a CID official.
The agency booked Mukesh Modi, the founder of the Adarsh Cooperative Society (multi-state), Rahul Modi, its managing director, and nine other office-bearers, the official added.
The Usmanpura-based Adarsh Credit Cooperative Society had started operations in 1999. “Prima facie, the investigation revealed that the society has 75 branches across the state and 25,000 persons have invested nearly Rs 3 crore in this ponzi scheme.”
The office bearers cheated investors by luring them with promises of 10% to 12% monthly returns on investments. They ran the scheme without taking permission from the central registrar.
CID officials conducted searches at the credit society’s offices in Usmanpura and Khedbrahma, from where they seized one and two PCs, respectively.The money collected from investors was used for the benefit of the Modi family. The office bearers invested the investors’ money in 187 shell companies and loaned money to others.
All these shell companies operated from a single room in Gurugram. The accused channelled money into these companies in the form of multiple fraudulent loans. Across the country, the Modi family has allegedly duped some 20 lakh depositors through the ponzi scheme.
Mukesh Modi and nine others are presently lodged in Jaipur jail. CID officials said that they will seek their remand in connection with the cases in Gujarat.