Three absconding fraudsters were arrested in Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium on the pretext of organizing a show with film stars like Bollywood actress Sunny Leone, Nora Fatehi, actor Tiger Shroff, singer Guru Randhawa. Three organizers of live concerts with financiers and cheating crores by selling online tickets to the audience have come under STF arrest after 9 months. The arrested organizers had sold tickets in the name of organizing a show by Shree Suvidha Foundation in May-2022. A few days before the show, the organizers switched off the phone and ran away. 3 cases were registered against them in Lucknow’s Gomti Nagar extension police station.
The accused have been brought to Lucknow on transit remand.
STF has arrested Jayanti Dera Walia, Viraj Trivedi, Sameer Sharma. On Sunday, they are being interrogated by bringing them to Lucknow on transit remand. In the interrogation of STF, mastermind Viraj told that after passing 12th, I worked as a delivery boy in a courier company for 7 years. From 1999, Pushpak ran his own business in Gujarat till 2014 by taking agency of couriers. After this, another courier office was opened in Malad, Mumbai. After the lockdown in 2020, all the work stopped.
There was a plan to open a hospital in Lucknow
Mastermind Viraj told STF that he had met Sameer Sharma in 2021. Made a plan to open a hospital in Lucknow. While searching for a hospital here, I met the manager of the stadium to organize a charity show at Ekana Stadium. 1 crore was booked for the show in the stadium.
After the booking was finalised, Gaurav, the manager of the stadium, got me and Sameer to meet Amit Singh, who used to book stars for charity shows. After this, after the star was decided, the date of the show was kept in May-2022. At the same time, investors were lured to return one and a half crores of one crore for finance. Then got around Rs 5 crore invested in the Suvidha Foundation.
Invested in the name of getting a luxury car at a discount
STF interrogation revealed that the accused had collected about five crore rupees from the financier. Had promised to return 1.5 crore on 1 crore after the show. Due to repeated date changes, the investors refused to invest due to the fear of cancellation of the show. On this, the accused tricked that as many people who finance the show, they would be given luxury vehicles at 30% discount.
Many rich people of Lucknow got trapped in this scheme. In a few days, 35 four wheelers and about 100 bikes were booked. Four crore rupees were deposited in a few days. On the other hand, only two thousand tickets were sold through Book My Show and other platforms. It is impossible to have a show in this situation, then he switched off his mobile and ran away. When the financier realized the fraud, he did not register an FIR to avoid the police and the Income Tax Department.
Told the financier to organize a program in Guwahati later
The thugs told during interrogation that due to the match being held at Ekana Stadium, the date of May-2022 was further extended to October 6, 2022. This time too, due to the match being held at Ekana Stadium, they kept on promising to extend the date. Investors got angry on this. But, saying that the money given to the stars would sink, they talked about getting the show done anywhere in India.
After that we decided to get the show done in Guwahati. A day before the show was to be held, it started raining, due to which the show in Guwahati could not be held. After this, on 20 November 2022, the date of the show was again fixed at Ekana Stadium. For this, publicity was done through print media, TV news channel along with banner posters etc. in the city.
Office opened in Lucknow Sadar for tickets
The ticket price for the show was kept from Rs 499 to Rs 6,000. Tickets were sold online. Only two thousand tickets were sold, so the organizers felt that if only this many tickets were sold, then even the expenses of the show would not be covered. After this they absconded. An office was also opened by the company in Sadar area of Lucknow. Who looked after the work related to ticket sales.
Arrested all three residents of Gujarat
According to STF ASP Vishal Vikram Singh, Surat resident Viraj Trivedi alias Vivek Joshi, CMD of Suvidha Foundation Sameer Kumar, Jitendra Sharma and Rajkot resident Jayanti Dera Walia have been arrested among the arrested organizers. In which Viraj and Jayanti were arrested from Pune, Sameer Kumar from Ahmedabad. Suvidha Foundation Trust had booked Ekana Stadium for a musical night on 20 November 2022 in the name of Sunny Leone. One crore rupees were deposited for this. After this, publicity was done by putting up posters in the city.