Thaindian News

Gurgaon, Jan 3 (IANS) Sanjay Gupta, a top official of the Hero Group, was Monday arrested for his alleged connivance in defrauding Citibank customers, including his own company, of an estimated Rs.300 crore, police said. According to police, Gupta, the chief financial officer of Hero Corporate Ltd, used to lure corporates into depositing money in fraud mastermind Shivraj Puri’s scheme.

Hero Corporate Ltd is one of the associates of Hero Group which had invested money in Puri’s account.

According to police, Gupta knew that Puri, Citibank’s relationship manager, was investing the money in the market without the knowledge of the account holders.

“We have found Gupta’s involvement in the fraud as he is the one who lured corporates to deposit money in Puri’s scheme. He will be produced before the court shortly,” said a senior police officer.

Puri was also paying Gupta high commission for his cooperation.

Puri had surrendered last Thursday and was sent to seven-day police remand.

According to police, firms belonging to the Delhi-based Hero Group invested Rs.200 crore in Puri’s account and Rs.100 crore was invested by individuals. Puri, in turn, invested the money in five major brokerages, including Religare, Okaya and Bonanza.

Puri allegedly cheated investors by asking them to deposit money into accounts managed by him, promising to invest it in schemes that offer very high interest within a short span of time.

Some 40 teams have also been constituted to track some 81 accounts into which the 32-year-old accused is alleged to have deposited the money.

The Hero Group Friday said that its exposure to the scam was just Rs.28.75 crore and that investments were made by its entities.