LUCKNOW The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) has arrested another accused in the alleged multi-crore Shine City land investment fraud. Carrying a ₹1 lakh reward, Mohammad Shamshad Ansari alias Guddu had been on the run for nearly four years, investigators said. Officials said the accused was arrested late on Wednesday night from the Utraon area on GT Road in Prayagraj.
They claim that he moved from a merchant navy job into the company’s plot-selling network before disappearing as cases mounted against its operatives. Ansari was wanted in three cases registered at Kotwali Nagar police station in Sultanpur concerning allegations of cheating investors in land and plot schemes.
According to the STF, the accused told investigators that he first met Asif Naseem, one of the key accused and brother of its chief operative Rashid Naseem, while working in the merchant navy in 2001.
He later joined him in the property business in 2014 after being lured by the prospect of high earnings. STF officials said Ansari claimed he went on to work as an assistant director with a Shine City-linked company in Sultanpur.
Police said Ansari was part of a network accused of collecting money from investors under land and plot investment schemes that allegedly failed to deliver promised allotments and returns. Sultanpur police had announced a reward of ₹1 lakh for information leading to his arrest.
The STF said Ansari had been absconding for a prolonged period and kept changing locations to evade arrest. He is booked under IPC provisions related to criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery, use of forged documents, mischief and criminal conspiracy.
