NEW DELHI - Businessman Subhash Aggarwal and wife Snehlata, accused of Rs.10 billion fraud and duping a large number of investors driven by the desire to get rich quick, were arrested and brought to a court here Saturday, police said.

The Aggarwals, who promised quick enhanced returns for investments, were arrested Friday when the couple had come to surrender at the Police Headquarters at ITO here.

Aggarwal, the managing director of Stop Loss Commodity Ltd, and his wife, were arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police, an official said.

The couple was brought to the district court Rohini. The court gave their custody to police to quiz them for cheating many innocent investors after promising them more returns in less time for their investments, the police officer said. The court sent Aggarwal to five days’ police custody while his wife would be quizzed for two days.

Police have recovered Rs.110,000 in cash and jewellery worth several millions from them.

Aggarwal allegedly duped around 5,000 residents from Aman Vihar, Satya Enclave, Prem Nagar and Mundka localities of about Rs.1,000 crore (Rs.10 billion). He lured people with “get-rich-quick” scheme.

Aggarwal took money from people promising them that it would be doubled and returned to them within a short period. Aggarwal fled after issuing post-dated cheques to the investors in the name of his company Stop Loss Commodity. But the cheques bounced.

“Aggarwal allegedly lured people to invest Rs.10,000 for which he promised Rs.1,000 as interest every month. To some, he even offered to double their investments in two to six months,” the court was told.

“He used to give post-dated cheques to all to gain their confidence. However, on May 19 some investors went to the bank to collect money and the cheques bounced. That is when the matter surfaced,” the officer said.

According to police, Aggarwal confessed to have cheated hundreds of people to the tune of millions of rupees.

“Initially, he was a sub-broker (dealing in stock market) and later he got into betting business and invested the people’s money in this business. He has also admitted to having suffered heavy losses in the market in the last few months,” the official said.

The police were trying to locate his bank accounts and properties.

“His interrogation so far has revealed that he has acquired various properties and jewellery worth several millions, and vehicles, besides other luxurious and valuable items,” the officer said.

After the fraud came to light, people ransacked Aggarwal’s home and office here last week.

Aggarwal, who hails from Haryana’s Rohtak town, came to the capital four years ago and started a firm in Uttam Nagar selling similar schemes but after some complaints he packed his bags. Later, he started the same scheme in Nangloi with Naresh Lapada, who was the director with the firm.

Aggarwal along with a property dealer Satpal invested crores of rupees in property and built an empire of his own, officials said.

The police are also looking out for Satpal and Naresh, who are absconding.