Mateen.Hafeez@timesgroup.com
Mumbai: A city police team has been camping in Indore for nine days to
take into custody a Rs 9 crore cheating accused. The 62-year-old
managing director of a private firm was arrested by Mumbai police and
taken in an ambulance to court but the transit remand was not granted as
he was lying in the ambulance in the compound.
A team of city economic offences wing (EOW)
officers arrested Rajiv Soni from Indore and took him to a local
hospital for a medical examination. Soni complained of high blood
pressure and high sugar at the government-run Maharaja Yeshwantrao
Hospital. Meanwhile, when the police team reached the court for the
transit remand, the judge told them that he first wanted to see the
accused physically in court. Police went back to the hospital, hired an
ambulance and carried him to the court. Rajiv’s lawyer alleged in court
that his client was forcefully brought there. Subsequently, the transit
remand was not granted. Mumbai police had admitted Rajiv to the hospital
on February 8. It is learnt that the Mumbai police team had to pay for
Rajiv’s “treatment”.
The associate vice-president of a multinational
bank, which has its office in south Mumbai, had lodged a complaint of
cheating of over Rs 5 crore. Investigations revealed that the amount was
around Rs 9 crore. Rajiv and coaccused, Vijay Soni, MD in a private
firm, and directors, Sharang Soni, Nirmalkumar Sharma and G P Mathur,
were named in the FIR along with Mohanlal Hemrajan, director of another
private firm, Opel Trade Impex Pvt Ltd.
The accused’s firm approached the bank for a loan,
stating they had bought some goods from Opel. A loan of Rs 9 crore was
sanctioned and Rs 5 crore was disbursed. But during scrutiny the bank
realised the documents of sale and purchase, and invoices submitted were
forged. When a bank official visited Rajiv’s office at Nariman Point,
he found it was shut down and the accused had fled. On September 2,
2016, a cheating case was registered with MRA Marg police and the case
was transferred to EOW. A Mumbai court has rejected Rajiv’s interim bail
plea.
The Times of India, February 17, 2019
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