Speak Asia scam: Key conspirator nabbed in Bangalore, 2nd arrest in case
New Delhi, Dec 2 (PTI): In the second success within a week, Delhi police have arrested Ram Niwas Pal, the alleged key conspirator in 'Speak Asia' online marketing scam.
Ram Niwas Pal, an airman with Indian Air Force who was dismissed from service in 2004, and his brother of Ram Sumiran Pal, who was arrested on November 25, were allegedly the brains behind the over Rs 2,200-crore scam in which around 24 lakh gullible Indians were duped.
"Ram Niwas Pal (40), a resident of Shahajanpur, Uttar Pradesh, the main accused of the financial scam was arrested by the Crime Branch of Delhi police yesterday from Whitefield Road, Bangalore," Additional commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav said today.
The arrest came on the basis of clues about his whereabouts from the interrogation of his younger brother Ram Sumiran.
Ram Niwas was living in Bangalore under the name of Abhay Singh Chandel and had donned a different look to conceal his identity.
"He is the main conspirator and planner of the 'Speak Asia' scam, who devised the whole project, 'Referral Sales Distribution System' and has also created a number of companies with the help of Manoj Kumar Sharma and his younger brother Ram Sumiran Pal in order to cheat lakhs of innocent people of their money," said Yadav.
Being on the run for more than 28 months, Ram Niwas Pal stayed in Delhi, Lucknow and Bangalore. He assumed fake identities under different names and frequently changed his looks. He was not in contact with any of his acquaintances, including his relatives and was very sure that he would never be traced.
"He does not have a passport because he was aware that with the help of Biometric Identification of Passport Office, his present whereabouts and actual name and address could be traced," said Yadav.
The brothers duped people through an online marketing firm, which also had Bollywood links as leading stars would perform at lavish functions held by them for investors and agents to lure more people and the siphoned off money was then also invested in many films, police said.
Ram Niwas Pal had joined Indian Air Force in 1991 as Airman and was posted at Jodhpur (Rajasthan) in Helicopter Unit and then in Hyderabad.
He left the IAF job in 2001 without giving any intimation to the department and hence, was declared a "Deserter" and had to face a "Court-Martial". He was dismissed from the service by the Air Force Court in 2004.
After dismissal from the IAF in 2002, he started providing consultancy services through Smart Connect Company for multinational Banks.