The Surathkal Police have arrested four individuals in connection with two massive “lucky scheme” scams that defrauded thousands of people, amounting to crores of rupees.
In the first case, Ahmed Quereshi and Nazir alias Nasir, residents of Katipalla, allegedly cheated over 3,000 investors of Rs4.2 crore through their company, New Shine Enterprises. Operating from Ayisha Complex near Samsuddin Circle, Katipalla II Block, the duo lured customers by collecting Rs1,000 per month for 11 months, promising attractive prizes like vehicles, flats, house sites, and cash.
The scam came to light after Shivaprasad, a resident of Soorinje village, filed a complaint stating that the “lucky scheme” was an unregulated deposit scheme. Following this, Police Commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy confirmed that cases were registered under Section 21 of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act, 2019 (BUDS Act) and Sections 316 and 318 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita (BNS) for criminal breach of trust and cheating.
Both accused were remanded to police custody till August 25. Police also revealed that Quereshi faces two earlier attempt-to-murder cases, while Nazir has one such case pending. During searches, officers seized computers, lucky draw boxes, registers, DVRs, and other materials from their office. Investigations are ongoing to identify their links with other “lucky scheme” operators.
In a separate case, police arrested Mohammed Ashraf Bajpe, of Mourishka Palace, Kadri-Kambala, and Mohammed Hanief, of Krishnapura, for cheating over 13,000 people of more than Rs10 crore through the Royal Scheme and Green Light Lucky Scheme. Their operations were based out of BMR Complex near Samsuddin Circle, Katipalla.
The complaint was lodged by Bhujanga Poojary, a resident of Chelair. The accused were remanded to 15 days of judicial custody on August 19. Similar charges under the BUDS Act and BNS were filed against them.
Police have requested the Revenue Department to seize properties acquired using proceeds from the scams. Commissioner Reddy urged victims to approach Surathkal Police with relevant documents to aid the investigation.
The probe was led by Inspector P. Pramod Kumar, assisted by PSIs Raghu Naik, Raghavendra Nai, Janardhan Naik, Shashidhar Shetty, and ASIs Taranath and Rajesh Alva, along with the Surathkal Police team.
