The CBI has arrested a promoter of M/s INCAN Mutual Fund Benefit Ltd, Lucknow and its group companies for his involvement in duping investors to the tune of Rs 72 crore. Agency officials said the accused was arrested from Pune on Tuesday. He was produced before the court at Lucknow on Friday and was remanded to judicial custody.

“The accused, Manjit Singh Ahuja, and his associates had collected huge sums of money from individual investors with assurances of returns of up to 40 per cent per annum in various schemes launched by the company from 1991 to 1998,” the CBI release said.

According to officials in the investigating agency, the company had opened branches in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh to collect deposits and claimed to have made investments in fertiliser production, real estate as well as agro-pharma plantations.

However, the money was siphoned off by the accused and his associates. Cases of fraud and cheating were registered against the accused in Punjab, Haryana and UP.