Crime branch arrests 'Speak Asia' scamster in Delhi

New Delhi, Nov 27: Finally, Ram Sumiran Pal, one of the three accused in Rs 2,200 crore

fraud which cheated at least 24 lakh investors across the world, was arrested by the Delhi

on Tuesday.

Pal, 37, and his partners were being hunted by police since 2011.

The crime branch acted on the tipoff that Pal, who was hiding in Dehradun, would visit Connaught Place on Monday.

"Pal is the first senior office bearer of Speak Asia to be arrested," additional commissioner of police (crime) Ravindra Yadav said, TOI reported.

Pal's brother Ram Niwas and Manoj Sharma are still absconding. Pal reportedly told interrogators that he was living with his in-laws in Dehradun since the company shut shop in 2011 and had invested the scam money in real estate.

"Pal, who is wanted in at least eight cases in Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, is the first senior office bearer of Speak Asia to be arrested," said Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav, reported Indian Express.

Registered in Singapore, the Speak Asia online survey marketing company was opened in India in 2010 by Pal with the help of his brother Ram Niwas Pal and Manoj Sharma. Speak Asia sold web subscriptions for Rs.11,000 and in return investors had to fill survey forms for certain multi-national firms for promised annual payment of Rs.52,000.

But after paying a few investors, Speak Asia closed down its operations in India around mid-2011.

Pal had launched construction projects for villas and luxury duplex flats in Dehradun and had also bought office and residential spaces in Mumbai and agricultural and commercial land in his hometown Shajahanpur, UP, for a luxury hotel, according to sources.

Whenever there was a look out for him, he would flee to Malaysia via Kathmandu, he told the police.

According to the findings of Enforcement Directorate (ED), Speak Asia diverted the money to countries like Singapore, Brazil, Malaysia, Dubai and Italy. The ED found a trail of Rs 900 crore remitted to Singapore alone, police said.

OneIndia News

(With agency inputs)