Haridwar: A case has been registered in Jwalapur, located in Uttarakhand's Haridwar district, after a local resident identified as Abdul Razak allegedly decamped with deposited money worth crores of rupees from a large number of Muslims in the area under the guise of a 'Muslim fund', an interest-free banking fraud scheme.
The incident came to light after Razak was found to have absconded on Sunday morning by locals and his office at 'Kabir Mutual Benefit Fund Private Limited' was found locked, said police. The scheme worked due to a prevalent concept of interest from accumulated money being considered haram in the Muslim community.
Confirming the incident, SP City Swatantra Kumar Singh said, "Preliminary investigation has revealed that around 22,000 persons had opened their accounts with the accused. The accumulated deposit amounts to crores. Based on complaints, a case has been registered into the matter, and SOG (Special Operations Group) will also be used, if required, to track down the accused.
Neither Razak nor any of his employees were observed going to houses to collect cash in the last two days, said locals. Several residents also claimed the accused had issued passbooks online with other banks, which his employees would fill up with transaction details after each deposit. Speaking about the incident, advocate Mohammad Nayyar, one of the victims, said his family had a total of Rs 1.25 lakhs deposited in the 'bank'.
"Our family had a total of four accounts with a total deposited amount of Rs 1.25 lakhs. I used to deposit money every Friday, and also whenever we had substantial earnings. I received word this morning that Abdul Razzak had absconded, and then arrived here to the office to witness thousands of people", Nayyar said. "I am appealing to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami that such persons are never given licence to conduct business in the future. All we hope for now is a quick arrest of the accused, and recovery of the stolen money," he said.
