The Loni Urban Multi-State Credit & Thrift Co-operative Society (LUCC) fraud case, which has created a stir in Devbhoomi, figured prominently in the talks when Uttarakhand lawmakers met Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday.
Four Parliamentarians from Uttarakhand, namely Anil Baluni (Garhwal), Maharani Mala Rajya Lakshmi Shah (Tehri), Trivendra Singh Rawat (Haridwar) and Ajay Bhat (Nainital), met Union Home Minister and urged him to take the strictest possible action against the promoters in the LUCC fraud case.
Under the infamous fraud, hundreds of people have been lured into making investments in their cooperative society by promising them high returns. The society defrauded the investors at its 35 branches in the state by promising high returns.Lawmakers told the Home Minister that the hard-earned money of the people of the hills was defrauded and said that steps should be taken to return it to them.
They urged the Home Minister to initiate steps to bring the promoters of the LUCC fraud case back to the country with the help of Interpol and hold them accountable and also punish them harshly, so that no fraudster dares to deceive the poor again.
“Home Minister assured us that he will take strict action in this matter, and the guilty will have to face the consequences of their actions,” Anil Baluni said in a post on X, while also sharing the pictures of the meeting.Notably, the Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Pushkar Singh Dhami, recently approved a CBI probe into the LUCC fraud case.
To date, eight cases of fraud have been registered in five districts - Dehradun, Pauri Garhwal, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarkashi, and Rudraprayag - and at least a dozen people have been arrested.Their modus operandi included luring the gullible investors by promising them high returns on their investment.
The investigation into the matter was initially done by the Crime Branch of the Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) unit.Five people associated with the cooperative society were also arrested in October last year.