DEHRADUN: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has searched the Mumbai and Bhopal premises of alleged LUCC scam mastermind Sameer Agrawal and his associates, seizing assets and valuables worth over Rs 30 crore.
The searches, conducted from August 13 to 16, led to the seizure of securities, mutual funds, LIC policies, bank balances and nine luxury vehicles, the ED said.
Officials also recovered Rs 1.53 crore in cash, foreign currency worth Rs 35.28 lakh, and gold and silver bullion valued at Rs 5.25 crore. The raids were part of the agency's money-laundering investigation into LUCC and allied cooperative societies.
The probe stems fromFIRs registered in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and other states. According to the ED, depositors were lured from 2009 through fixed-deposit and monthly-income schemes floated by Agrawal's SAGA Group.
“Investors were promised that their money would double or triple within three to five years,” the agency said, adding that cars, houses and other expensive gifts were offered as inducements.
The ED alleged that more than Rs 10,000 crore was mobilised nationwide by promising bank-like safety and high returns.
Investigators alleged that initial payouts were made to gain investors' confidence before large sums were diverted for personal use and agents' commissions. Much of the money was allegedly collected in cash and routed through regional cash chests.
The agency suspects that more than 50 shell entities and hawala channels were used to acquire properties in India and abroad.
According to the ED, Agrawal, chairman and managing director of the SAGA Group, operated the schemes before fleeing abroad with his wife, Sania Agrawal.
The agency had earlier attached properties under two provisional attachment orders. It arrested Ravi Shankar Tiwari under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act on July 14, 2026, and filed a prosecution complaint before a special court on July 24.
In a parallel investigation, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chargesheeted 18 accused, including LUCC and Sameer Agrawal, in July in connection with an alleged Rs 800-crore scam involving nearly one lakh investors in Uttarakhand.
The CBI took over 18 FIRs after the Nainital High Court ordered their transfer in 2025. It alleged that LUCC, registered as a multi-state cooperative in 2012, came under Agrawal's control in 2016, after which unregulated investment schemes were allegedly operated through more than 50 branches in Uttarakhand.
The Uttarakhand government has opened a portal for complaints from people affected by the alleged fraud. According to investigators, LUCC collected about Rs 800 crore in the state through fixed and recurring deposit schemes promising high returns.