The CMM, however, ordered the release of two of the accused, Madan Lal Srivastava and Seema Srivastava, saying that no evidence had been collected against them. Two of the accused in the case, R.K. Srivastava and Arun Kumar Chaudhary, are in judicial custody while R.K. Shukla is out on bail.

The CBI has reportedly registered three charghesheets against various divisions of the company. The first chargesheet, filed earlier this year on March 9, accused PLS Mutual Benefit Ltd and its directors of cheating 15 investors and defrauding them of money amounting to Rs 4,83,123.

The second chargesheet, filed by the agency on August 30, was against one of PLS's sister concerns, Sreejee Capital Management. The company is charged with defrauding 73 investors of Rs.43,39,384.

In its third chargesheet filed on Wednesday, the CBI accused PLS Technical Ltd and its directors of cheating hundreds of investors of more than Rs 10 crore. It accused the non-banking finance company of defrauding investors between March 1994 to April 1997.

Shukla, Srivastava and Chaudhary are accused of entering into a criminal conspiracy with the object of cheating people. The three allegedly induced investors to deposit money in various incentive schemes at a high interest rate through advertisements and personal contacts. According to CBI officials, the monthly interest rates promised by the company were between 24 to 40 per cent. The company issued post-dated cheques to the investors. The cheques bounced and the three directors disappeared following mounting pressure upon them from investors.