Ludhiana, March 23 -- The PAU police booked five directors of packed snacks firm based in New Delhi for allegedly cheating a Ludhiana industrialist of Rs.2.5 crore under the pretext of offering him a franchise, officials said.

Police identified the accused as Ashok Aggarwal, Archana Aggarwal, Sharad Aggarwal, Priyanka Aggarwal and Vaibhav Aggarwal.

The FIR was registered after a complaint by one Satish Sood, a resident of Janpath Estate, Jhammat village. In his statement to the police, Sood said he contacted the company for a franchise and was asked to pay Rs.25 lakh as advance. He said he later paid another Rs.22.5 lakh on the promise of raw materials and trained staff.

According to the complaint, the accused later told him that a fra...