A city businessman has been cheated out of ₹1.71 crore after he was lured into an investment scheme that promised lucrative returns.

Initially, businessman Vivekananda Ghosh, a resident of Siddha Pines on Rajarhat Main Road, made a profit of around ₹38,000 that was given to him to win his confidence. Later, the entire amount was forfeited.

Police said Vivekananda, 40, also started to get threat calls when he managed to get hold of a woman’s contact number who is related to the accused person and informed her how the person had cheated him.

According to the police complaint Vivekananda was lured into an investment scheme in October last year that offered profitable returns.

“After the first two or three transactions, he made a profit of ₹38,888 within a month, which was credited to his bank account,” said an officer of Narayanpur police station under Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate, where the case has been registered.

Vivekananda then invested a total of ₹1.71 crore through multiple transactions but neither got the money back nor made any profit.

The matter came to light when Vivekananda’s elder brother Brijesh — who jointly owns their family business — enquired why his younger brother was taking loans from their business accounts.

“The victim was told by the accused that he would get back his money after the financial year ended,” the officer said.

Vivekananda, in the meantime, managed to collect a contact number belonging to a relative of the accused person and told her about the accused.

The number apparently belonged to the daughter of the accused person who had convinced Vivekananda to make the investments.

“After this, the victim started to get threat calls because he had contacted the relative,” the officer said.

Recently, the Ghosh family decided to report the matter to the police. The formal complaint was lodged by Vivekananda’s elder brother on Tuesday.

Based on the complaint, the police have started a case.

“My younger brother is in trauma. I am not in a position to divulge any details about the case. We have reported the matter to the police,” Brijesh told Metro on Thursday.

No one had been arrested till late on Thursday evening.