A senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member from Bhayander has been arrested for her alleged role in a chit fund scam.BJP youth wing president Karishma Punamiya had been running the chit fund since 2011 and it had only women as members. As many as 1,200 women lost their money to the scam and 60 members, who lost nearly Rs 30 lakh in all, finally came forward to register a police complaint.Punamiya’s chit fund, called Gold Kitty Party, required every member to deposit Rs 1,000 per month. She had assured of a return of Rs 41,000 after three years. While she had been taking the money since 2011, she never paid any returns, said PI Bhaskar Pukle of Bhayander police station.“Most victims are the from the Gujarati or Marwari communities. Punamiya had even issued us cheques worth Rs 41,000 to some, but they bounced,” said a victim.Reshma Soni, another victim, said, “She would throw lavish lunches every month. The chit fund members were bowled over by her gesture, as she would hold the parties in her plush office, which had photographs of senior BJP leaders. So much so, that the event became popular as ‘Punamiya Lunch’ or ‘Punamiya Tea Party’.Punamiya was booked under Section 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and was remanded to the police custody. The case is likely to be transferred to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), said a police official. He added that it is suspected that Punamiya was not handling the entire operation alone and police are in search of her accomplices.