Guwahati, Oct 29: Assam DGP Gyanendra Pratap Singh has informed that a committee would be constituted under the Unregulated Deposit Schemes (UDS) Act, 2019, to liquidate the assets of the accused in online trading scams and distribute the money among the investors who had been duped of crores of rupees by scamsters.
“We are often asked by people whether victims can retrieve their money invested in unregulated deposit schemes. There is a provision under the UDS Act according to which all assets of the accused in scams can be liquidated and distributed among the investors. However, such liquidation and distribution can only take place once the investigation is over,” the DGP informed the media.
“As it is, seizures of such assets were made when the Assam Police was investigating such scams. Now, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has taken over the investigation (41 cases), is making seizures of assets of persons accused in scams. So, I believe that after a few months, as and when the investigation ends, we can distribute some proportion of the money among the victims,” Singh said.
The assurance from the state police chief follows the arrest of Dipankar Barman, a key accused in the multi-crore online trading scam, in the Pernem area of north Goa on Sunday evening.
A team from Central Guwahati Police District (CGPD), led by assistant commissioner of police (Panbazar) Amit Mahato, with support from the Crime Branch of Goa Police, arrested Barman from a location near Arambol beach and seized cash amounting Rs 27,06750, gold jewellery and a passport from his possession.
Notably, Barman, who was operating a firm to allegedly dupe thousands of investors in the Rs 7000 crore trading scam, was absconding and evading arrest for a little over two months. According to information received by Guwahati police, he had frequently changed guest houses and homestays during his stay in Goa.
Barman was on Monday produced in a court in Pernem, which has granted three-days’ transit remand to the accused.
Guwahati Commissioner of Police Diganta Barah had on Monday informed that a technical analysis conducted by a city police team had helped track the whereabouts of Barman.
“A police team from the city had left for Goa on Sunday morning and arrested Barman from an area under Pernem police station in the evening,” Barah informed.