The Assam Police on Wednesday unearthed a massive financial scam of Rs 22,000 crore involving brokers who made fraudulent online stock market investments by claiming to double people's money, sources said.
The police have arrested two men, Vishal Phukan, a 22-year-old online trader from Dibrugarh and Swapnil Das from Guwahati, in the case. However, several more arrests are expected in the scam that allegedly spanned the state.
Police said Phukan, who lured people using his opulent lifestyle, promised his investors a 30% return on their investments in 60 days. He had set up four fake companies, invested in the Assamese film industry and acquired several properties.
The police conducted a raid at his house residence in Dibrugarh and seized documents linked to the mutli-crore scam. Police are now looking for Assamese choreographer Sumi Borah, who is also reportedly connected to Phukan's network.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma urged people to avoid fraudulent online stock market investments, saying that claims of doubling money with minimal effort are usually fraudulent.
“I want to tell the people that there is no such system of investing money in the stock market through these online trading firms. Fraudsters are misleading the people. I urge the people to stay away from fraudsters. Police have now registered cases against the illegal brokers. We will try to bust the entire racket in the state,” he said, adding that the police have launched a crackdown on illegal online trading in the state.
The chief minister's statement comes after reports claimed that several online trading firms were doing business in the state without following SEBI or RBI guidelines.