Pune: Five members of a family from Shirur taluka allegedly sold “fortune-in-a-flash” dreams to at least 39 people and duped them collectively of Rs20.34 crore on the promise of doubling their money in chit fund schemes within a year.The accused collected money from the victims between 2020 and Nov 2024, but allegedly failed to return it. A 54-year-old Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) schoolteacher from Chandannagar, a relative of the suspects, lodged a complaint against them. He was allegedly duped of Rs75.4 lakh. Ranjangaon MIDC police registered a case on Wednesday.An officer from the Ranjangaon MIDC police said, “The complainant is from Shirur taluka. He and his wife are PMC schoolteachers and live in Pune. He is the paternal uncle of one of the suspects. In 2023, he went to meet his late cousin’s wife in Shirur taluka. She told him that she was running a chit fund scheme and that several people from Shirur taluka had earned good returns from it. The woman assured him she would double his money within a year. She also told him that being his relative, she would not cheat him. The PMC teacher then invested Rs34.3 lakh in the chit fund.”“A few days later, the woman’s daughter-in-law approached the PMC teacher, told him about her own chit fund scheme and assured him of doubling his investment. The complainant then invested money in her scheme as well. The PMC school teacher invested a total of Rs75.4 lakh in different chit fund schemes. Of this, he transferred Rs42.6 lakh online and paid Rs32.8 lakh in cash. His late cousin’s wife, her two sons and their wives allegedly collected the money from him,” the officer said.“In November 2024, the PMC school teacher’s late cousin’s wife told him that the chit fund schemes had been shut down, but did not return his money. The complainant later found that 38 other people had also invested money with the accused. The total amount invested by them was Rs20.34 crore,” the officer said.When repeated follow-ups failed to yield any result, the PMC school teacher and the other investors approached the police. “The accused have been booked under relevant sections of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Our investigation is underway,” the officer added.
