Uttarakhand: CBI arrests five accused in LUCC Chit Fund Scam

The arrested accused have been identified as Rajendra Singh Bisht, Tarun Kumar Mourya, Gaurav Rohilla and Mamta Bhandari.

It may be recalled that the Uttrakhand High Court (Nainital Bench) had passed orders transferring all the FIRs pertaining to LUCC Chit Fund Scam to CBI in 2025, based on which the CBI registered a case on November 26, 2025, under various sections of IPC, BNS and Uttarakhand Protection of Interests of Depositors Act and Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act against various office bearers of LUCC and others.

Investigation so far has brought forth an unprecedented scale of victimisation of the public in Uttarakhand, in which a very large number of investors (more than 1 lakh approx.) were lured to invest in various unregulated deposit schemes of LUCC. The total investment/ deposits made by these depositors is estimated to be the tune of Rs 800 crores approx. Part repayments were made, but the fraud amount is more than Rs 400 crores.

Investigation in this case is underway on a day-to-day basis, and a special team has been constituted to track and trace the accused based on technical surveillance and source information. The main accused in this case is Sameer Agrawal, who, along with his wife Saniya Agrawal, has absconded abroad, and the CBI has issued notices and circulars against them.

Investigation has also revealed that several immovable properties were acquired by the accused persons from the proceeds of crime, and details about these properties have been shared with the competent authority, which is the Secretary, Finance, Government of Uttrakhand with a request to freeze these properties and take necessary action to distribute them to the victims under the provisions of Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes (BUDS) Act 2019.

The arrested accused persons are likely to be produced before the Competent Court. Investigation is continuing. (ANI)