By ARUN PRATAP SINGH
Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun/Nainital, 17 Sep: The Uttarakhand High Court today ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the LUCC chit fund scam that had defrauded citizens of the state of more than Rs 800 crores before the operators disappeared. The order has been issued by the High Court after a detailed hearing on petitions that demanded the case be taken out of the hands of the state police and entrusted to the central agency. The division bench comprising Chief Justice G Narendar and Justice Alok Mehra directed that all those who have lost money to the company should lodge their complaints with the CBI, which has now been formally authorised to investigate.
During the proceedings, counsel for the CBI informed the court that the agency had previously been asked if it was in a position to conduct such an investigation. The court was told today that official permission had been received, and the approval letter was presented before the bench. The state police, which had been pursuing the matter, submitted that a number of FIRs had already been filed and several cases were still under investigation. However, 27 aggrieved investors contradicted this claim, stating that their complaints had never been registered. They stressed that without registration of their cases, there was no possibility of recovering their lost money. The bench advised these individuals to place their complaints along with proof of investment directly before the CBI so that their grievances could be addressed.
It may be recalled that the petitions in this regard, were taken up by a division bench headed by the Chief Justice, including one filed by Ashutosh of Rishikesh through a public interest litigation, later joined by several others. The petitioners have alleged that LUCC had opened offices across multiple districts of Uttarakhand in 2021, including Dehradun, Rishikesh and Pauri, offering attractive returns and multiple benefits to investors. Local agents were appointed who had urged acquaintances and villagers to invest, leading to a large mobilisation of funds from unsuspecting people. The company never bothered to register itself under the Societies Registration Act in Uttarakhand. In 2023–24, LUCC abruptly closed its offices and vanished, leaving thousands of investors in despair.
It has since come to light that 14 FIRs have been filed against the company in Uttarakhand and 56 in other states, while the main accused is reported to have fled to Dubai. Investors, unable to trace the culprits, began to confront the local agents who had persuaded them to invest, and many of these agents in turn faced action from the police. The investigating officer in the case appeared before the court today and placed on record the steps taken so far. The petitioners, however, pointed out that if an outside company was allowed to operate in Uttarakhand without mandatory registration, the negligence lay not only with the promoters but also with the sleeping members of society and the state government. They demanded that accountability be fixed at every level and a comprehensive investigation be undertaken to ensure justice for thousands of defrauded citizens.
