India News | CBI Files Chargesheet Against 18 Accused in LUCC Chit Fund Scam in Uttarakhand
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday filed a chargesheet against 18 accused persons and an entity in the case linked to Loni Urban Multi State Credit and Thrift Co-operative Society (LUCC) chit fund scam of Uttarakhand in the Ld. Special Court of the BUDS Act at Dehradun.
New Delhi [India], July 10 (ANI): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday filed a chargesheet against 18 accused persons and an entity in the case linked to Loni Urban Multi State Credit and Thrift Co-operative Society (LUCC) chit fund scam of Uttarakhand in the Ld. Special Court of the BUDS Act at Dehradun.
According to a press release by the CBI, the chargesheet has been filed against Sameer Agrawal, Shadab Husain, Uttam Kumar Singh Rajpoot, Sania Agrawal, Maya Singh Rajpoot, Jitendra Singh Niranjan, Dinesh Singh, Girish Chand Singh Bisht, Urmila Bisht, Jagmohan Bisht, Mamta Bhandari, Tarun Kumar Maurya, Gaurav alias Gaurav Rohilla, Sushil Gokharoo, Kishanlal Udaylal Jain, Pankaj Kushal Singh Jain, Rajendra Singh Bisht and Loni Urban Multi State Credit and Thrift Co-operative Society (LUCC) under various sections of IPC, BNS and Uttarakhand Protection of Interests of Depositors Act and Banning of Unregulated Deposits Schemes Act.
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During the investigation, seven accused persons, namely Tarun Kumar Maurya, Mamta Bhandari, Gaurav Rohila, Rajendra Singh Bisht, Sushil Kumar Gokharoo, Kishanlal Udaylal Jain and Pankaj Kushal Singh Jain, were arrested by the CBI and are presently in judicial custody.
The Nainital Bench of the Uttarakhand High Court had passed orders transferring all the FIRs pertaining to the LUCC Chit Fund Scam to the CBI in the year 2025. In compliance of the order, the CBI has registered a case on November 26, 2025, under various sections of the IPC, BNS, the Uttarakhand Protection of Interests of Depositors Act and the Banning of Unregulated Deposits Schemes Act against various office bearers of LUCC.
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By registering the case, the CBI took over the investigation of all 18 local police FIRs registered at various police stations of Uttarakhand.
As per the release, the investigation revealed that LUCC was registered in 2012 as a Multi-State Co-operative Society by one Vajid Khan at the Central Registrar of Societies. The main accused, Sameer Agrawal, took over the management of LUCC in 2016 and constituted a new Board of Directors.
After taking over of LUCC by Sameer Agrawal, various unregulated deposit schemes were run by LUCC through more than 50 branches of LUCC located in Uttarakhand. While NOC towards the functioning of LUCC in Uttarakhand was issued by the Registrar of Societies, Uttarakhand, in 2017, the operations of LUCC in Uttarakhand were illegally started by Sameer Agrawal in 2016 itself.
Since LUCC had no genuine business and no genuine income or profit, the maturity payment of deposits of depositors was being made from the fresh deposits being received from new depositors. Thus, LUCC was found to be running Ponzi Schemes to cheat the common public of Uttarakhand.
Investigation revealed that an unprecedented scale of victimisation of the public in Uttarakhand, in which a large number of investors (more than a lakh) were lured to invest in various unregulated deposit schemes of LUCC. The total investment or deposits made by these depositors is to the tune of Rs 800 crore approximately. Part repayments were made by LUCC to some of the depositors, but the fraud amount is more than Rs 400 crore, the CBI said.
Investigation revealed that the main accused, Sameer Agrawal, a resident of Mumbai, Maharashtra, is the mastermind behind the operations of LUCC, and he controlled the management and decision-making of LUCC. He operated the unregulated deposit schemes through LUCC, which collected around Rs. 800 Crores from the depositors of Uttarakhand. He opened the bank accounts of 10 shell firms in conspiracy with Kishanlal Udyalal Jain and Pankaj Kushal Singh Jain for diversion and misappropriation of funds of depositors of Uttarakhand collected by LUCC. Investigation revealed that he and his wife, Saniya Agrawal, have absconded abroad. CBI has issued notices and circulars against them so that they can be brought back to face the legal process.
Investigation revealed that Shabab Husain, Uttam Kumar Singh Rajput and Dinesh Singh were important functionaries and office bearers of LUCC, and they have also been chargesheeted by CBI. Similarly, Chest Managers of LUCC, namely Tarun Kumar Maurya, Gaurav alias Gaurav Rohilla and Mamta Bhandari, who sent the depositors' money in cash collected by various branches to different locations, thereby avoiding the banking transactions. In the instant chargesheet, various other accused persons, being office bearers of LUCC and being involved in the conspiracy, are also chargesheeted.
Investigation found that Sushil Kumar Gokharoo, in conspiracy with Kishanlal Udaylal Jain and Pankaj Kushal Singh Jain, got opened bank accounts of 10 shell firms at Mumbai, Maharashtra and the funds collected from depositors of Uttarakhand were transferred to the bank accounts of these shell firms. Subsequently, these funds were diverted to hundreds of bank accounts through layered transactions, the press release stated.
The CBI constituted a special team so that the investigation in the instant case can be conducted on a daily basis, properties of the accused persons can be identified, and the accused persons can be arrested. During the investigation, the assets of the accused persons were identified, and action was taken to get them attached through the Competent Authority of Uttarakhand, which is the Finance Secretary, to the Government of Uttarakhand, Dehradun. 39 properties in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra pertaining to the accused persons had been identified and referred to the Competent Authority by CBI for initiating attachment proceedings under the BUDS Act, 2019.
Out of these 39 properties, provisional attachment orders have been issued in respect of 29 properties by the Competent Authority so far, after following the due process. Further, applications for confirmation of attachment are also being filed by the Competent Authority before the Designated Courts in respect of these provisionally attached 29 properties. With regard to the remaining 10 properties, the Competent Authority is in the process of initiating provisional attachment proceedings.
Further investigation is continuing against the other accused persons. (ANI)
(The above story is verified and authored by ANI staff, ANI is South Asia's leading multimedia news agency with over 100 bureaus in India, South Asia and across the globe. ANI brings the latest news on Politics and Current Affairs in India & around the World, Sports, Health, Fitness, Entertainment, & News. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)