Bushra Begum, a preacher at UIRC

Hyderabad: A preacher working with the Hyderabad-based Universal Islamic Research Centre (UIRC) has allegedly duped several investors assuring to provide ‘halal’ income.

About 40 investors, all women approached the Saidabad police and lodged a complaint against Bushra Begum, a preacher at UIRC, alleging that she collected Rs 90 lakh in deposits from them by promising them fixed ‘Halal’ returns every month.

A similar complaint was also lodged against Bushra Begum by another group of investors, alleging that she had duped them of Rs 20 lakh.

Trouble started after Bushra Begum stopped paying investors their returns stating that she had deposited the amount in the notorious Heera Group of Companies, run by Nowhera Shaik, who is currently lodged in jail for duping thousands of investors.

Heera Gold, which according to SEBI is a Ponzi Scheme, lured investors in the name of Halal investments and promised high monthly fixed returns. The company systematically targeted Muslims across India and in the Middle East, amassing vast sums of money. The scheme was unsustainable and the group has defaulted in the repayment of the principal amount and promised returns to its investors.

In a video released by Bushra Begum, she claims that she had deposited the money collected from investors into Heera Foodex, a subsidiary of Heera Group of Companies, which failed to return back the money. She also claims that her former husband, and a fellow preacher at UIRC Siraj ur Rahman was unaware of her business activities and that he divorced her when investors informed him about it.

However, the police have also registered a case against Siraj and are currently on the lookout for both of them.

Police said they would verify if Bushra and her husband had invested in Heera Group and would take action based on the preliminary probe.