Assam: Choreographer Sumi Borah, Husband, and Brother-in-Law Sent to Judicial Custody in Multi-Crore Online Scam

GUWAHATI: Assamese choreographer Sumi Borah, her husband Tarkik Borah, and brother-in-law Amlan Borah have been remanded to judicial custody by a Dibrugarh court in Assam. This comes after their police custody ended on Tuesday. The trio stands accused of involvement in a massive Rs 2,200 crore online trading scam that has rocked the state and defrauded more than 1,500 unsuspecting investors.

The court has placed them in judicial custody after the Dibrugarh police decided not to seek further remand. Sumi and Tarkik's lawyers did not take any time in filing bail petitions for them. The verdict on these petitions is still awaited. Amlan Borah's case is an interesting one as no bail plea has been filed in his case either, which has led a lot of speculating over his next legal move.

The scam to be discussed involved notorious 22-year-old Vishal Phukan, who was arrested earlier in September after orchesting one of the biggest online frauds ever seen in this region. He attracted investors with an offer of "amazing returns" offering unusually high returns where most investors, taking huge loans or selling family heirlooms, sunk their money into his fraudulent scheme. While Phukan first earned confidence by paying back small investments with interest, he reportedly stopped paying after people had committed larger sums, resulting in hundreds of people going into financial ruin.

The waves created by the arrest of Phukan also had the detention of Sumi Borah on September 13; this was the time when Amlan Borah, a photographer and husband to her, along with his wife, were suspected of their role in the scam. Investigations point out that these couples and Amlan Borah had a much closer connection with Phukan and must have played a great role in operating this fraudulent trading.

This case is further complicated by police reports, which mention two mediators, Abhijit Chandra and Manbendra Singh, who are also implicated in the same scam. According to the police report, all six individuals conspired together to cheat millions of gullible investors.

So far, property of more than Rs 5 crore has already been confiscated by the authorities in this case, but the investigation is on. Meanwhile, the court will probably issue its order on the bail pleas in the days ahead; meanwhile, victims await justice.

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