The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday filed a chargesheet against Biswanath Roy and Mridul Dutta in one of the Assam Ponzi Scam cases before Special CBI court in Guwahati. 
The chargesheet against the accused, who are in judicial custody, was filed within 90 days of their arrest. The chargesheet against Biswanath Roy and Mridul Dutta has been filed under Section 120B IPC (corresponding to Section 61(2) BNS) read with Sections 409 IPC (316(5) BNS), 420 IPC (318(4) BNS), and Sections 25, 21(1), 21(2), 21(3) read with Section 23 of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes (BUDS) Act, 2019, along with substantive offences.
On request of the Assam state government, the central agency had registered a case in October this year. They took over investigation from PS Dispur, Assam against AJRS Marketing Pvt Ltd. 
According to reports, AJRS Marketing Pvt Ltd allegedly engaged in illegal trading activities without requisite permissions from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). 
The complaint further alleged a surge in fraudulent trading apps and companies operating in Assam, which misled the public with promises of high returns. The entities allegedly swindled crores of rupees from investors, causing significant financial harm.
The case pertains to a multi-level deposit scheme involving deposits collected under the trade names &ldquo;Ayurvedlife&rdquo; and &ldquo;AJRS Trading.&rdquo; Investors were allegedly lured with promises of substantial returns and incentives such as bikes, cars, and foreign trips upon reaching specific investment thresholds. Subsequently, deposits were allegedly misappropriated, causing a total fraud of approximately ₹5.14 crore and affecting around 2,600 victims, primarily from Assam.
Investigation revealed that Roy and Dutta marketed and promoted the unregulated deposit scheme of AJRS. They participated in various meetings with potential depositors and presented the non-existent business model by providing the brochures of Ayurvedlife, AJRS Trading, AJRS Group to depositors. They used digital modes of communication i.e. WhatsApp group and WhatsApp chat which allured potential depositors to deposit a large sum of their hard-earned money. 
Both made false promises to depositors for doubling their deposit in 200 days through the unregulated deposit schemes. Furthermore, Roy and Dutta solicited members to the multi-level marketing (MLM) structure of the unregulated deposit schemes where each participant had to recruit others to earn commission on the deposit of other members. The accused recruited members under them and made them deposit large sums of amount in the company.
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Georgia',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">Further investigation is underway to examine the roles of other accused including Gopal Paul, and associated companies.

CBI is conducting further investigation to examine roles of other accused in the case

Biswanath Roy and Mridul Dutta claimed fraudulent gains to investors in company, swindled ₹5.14 crore from 2.6K people

CBI Files Chargesheet Against Assam Ponzi Scheme Accused

Biswanath Roy and Mridul Dutta claimed fraudulent gains to investors in company, swindled ₹5.14 crore from 2.6K people

December 11, 2024 | 19:29 IST