Mateen Hafeez TNN
Mumbai: The economic offences wing (EOW), which is probing the multi-crore Speak-Asia fraud, has moved the sessions court for the cancellation of bail granted to the company’s chief operating officer, Tarak Bajpai. The police said that Bajpai failed to furnish sureties within the stipulated time and had not been visiting the EOW office.
Bajpai (36) and nine others were arrested in July last year for cheating investors (also known as panelists). “Bajpai and Rajeev Mehrotra, technical head for the SpeakAsia portal, were admitted to Thane’s Jupiter Hospital after they complained of health problems. While the co-accused in the case were taken into custody by the Hyderabad police in another case, these two disappeared and did not attend the court since then,” said an EOW officer. The fraud, as per EOW records, has crossed the figure of Rs 2,276 crore so far.
“The court, while granting bail to Bajpai, had asked him to attend the investigating officer/office every week. Moreover, he was given bail on Rs 3 lakh in cash. However, the court had asked him to furnish personal sureties from Mumbai, Thane and Panvel within eight weeks. He neither appeared before the investigators nor did he furnish the personal surety so far. Hence, we have approached the court for the cancellation of his bail,” said the officer. The police further said that Bajpai was avoiding cooperating with the police. Meanwhile, Mehrotra has approached the Supreme Court asking to quash an FIR against him in a Hyderabad police station. He has also challenged the cancellation of his anticipatory bail application by a Hyderabad court.
The other accused, Shaikh Rais Latif (32), assistant for daily portal operations and incharge of regular pop-ups, and Ravi Janakraj Khanna (44), finance accountant, who were also arrested, are also not attending the EOW office. “We are planning to move the court for cancellation of their bail as well,” said the officer.
SpeakAsia Scam: SpeakAsia started an online service under which each investor (panelist) would be given two surveys a week to complete on an annual fee of Rs 11,000. If the investor successfully completed all the surveys, he or she would be entitled to Rs 52,000 a year.
The Times of India, January 5, 2012
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