'The basic membership fees of this scheme started from Rs.15,000, after which Rs.1,000 per month was assured for 36 months,' Thakur said.

'Sharma was running the firm for the last three years and would invest the money in the stock market after collecting it from different investors. He suffered huge losses in the stock market due to recession and the sudden downfall in the stock market last year,' Thakur said.

However, he continued paying fixed monthly returns to the investors as a face saver, due to which he fell deeper into the debt trap, police said.

'When he failed to pay money to his investors, he disappeared from his Gurgaon residence in April,' Thakur said.

'We were flooded with complaints from investors that when the cheques given by Sharma were presented in the bank, they were returned saying the account had insufficient funds,' he said.