MUMBAI:
Two months after an accountant was arrested for allegedly siphoning off
Rs 7 crore from a watch showroom housed at a five-star hotel, the
police said that the accused, Shailesh Haryan (34), had splurged the
money on "costly" liquor, visiting dance bars and putting up at hotels
with friends.
The economic offences wing of the city police
recently filed a chargesheet against Shailesh Haryan (34), a Mira Road
resident. Haryan worked at the showroom between 2010 and 2015.
The
police said that he misused the company's system password to divert
funds, made dummy entries and fudged the company's accounts.
The
discrepancies had come to the fore during the auditing process, while
the balance sheet for the financial year 2014-15 was being compiled. The
auditor found that funds had been transferred to Haryan's bank
accounts. Inspector Manish Awale filed the chargesheet.
A police officer said that Haryan splurged money on friends to buy costly liquor and visit dance bars.
Haryan
had also used Rs 10 lakh of the misappropriated funds to buy jewellery
besides Rs 23 lakh which was used to book a flat in Virar. The police
said that he had returned the jewellery and the ownership papers of the
flat to the company.
Mumbai: A cheating complaint was filed against a realty firm and its
husband-wife directors for duping 13 flat and shop buyers of a Bhandup
project of Rs 7.2 crore. Shreenath Build Grand Pvt Ltd. and Neeraj and
Sapna Ved allegedly sold flats to buyers who did not get possession of
the same.
“Most complainants are senior citizens of which 12
had booked flats while one had booked a commercial gala in a project.
From 2011to 2014, the buyers had paid the money and were issued
allotment letters. The complainant, Mahendra Dharod, later found that
the flat allotted to him was registered under someone else’s name and
informed the others,” said a police officer of the Bhandup police
station. The 13-storey building has mostly 2BHK flats which were sold
for Rs 60 lakh each in 2011.
An FIR was registered.No arrest has been made yet.
MUMBAI:
Police have registered a cheating and breach of trust case against
three directors of a private firm for cheating depositors to the tune of
over Rs7 crore.
The unit formed under the Maharashtra Protection
of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act, that works under the city’s
economic offences wing (EOW), filed the case. The unit deals with
investment fraud cases wherein investors are duped in various business
schemes. “Ghatkopar resident, Chandrakant Kavade, 56, lodged a cheating
complaint against three directors of Wealthshore Management Pvt Ltd at
Pant Nagar police station,” said an officer. The directors named in the
FIR are Pramod Chincholkar, Kuriyan Johnson and Vikas Mahamuni.
“The
case has been transferred to the EOW and, as per the case papers, 417
investors have been cheated of over Rs 7 crore. The firm claimed to have
invested in many businesses. It asked depositors to invest for 36
months and promised 15% annual returns. However, they stopped paying the
returns to investors and most of them couldn’t even get their principal
amount back,” said a source. Assistant police inspector Sunil Pawar is
probing this case.
In
a separate case, the EOW arrested Sakharam Hake alias Yesh, 37, an
engineering dropout, for his alleged involvement in a Ponzi scheme.
He
along with another accused, Vijay Ahire, 41, director in Y P Capital
India Ltd, an Andheri-based firm, lured depositors with promises of
handsome returns.
“Rupali
Kamble, 41, a housewife from Worli, lodged the complaint based on which
we arrested Ahire. Yesh was nabbed later,” said an officer. Assistant
police inspector Vinod Kelkar is probing the case.
MUMBAI: The city Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has filed a chargesheet in the Rs 23-crore postal investment scam. The
chargesheet says the accused, a senior citizen couple and their
daughter, used the funds of more than 1,800 investors to buy flats,
bungalows and a chemical factory in various parts of the state and in
Goa.
The trio was arrested in
January for allegedly cheating investors. The accused, all authorised
agents of Mahim post office, promised the depositors 102% returns on
their investment in six years.
Those
chargesheeted include Ramesh Bhatt, 68, his wife Yogita, 65, and their
daughter, Bhumika Mohire, 39. The 4,908-page chargesheet lists 68
persons as witnesses.
An
officer, who is part of the probe, said, "Bhatt was employed with a
private firm till 2000 and later became a post office agent. He had
thousands of clients."
Police
said Asha Mandlik, 52, one of the depositors, had given Bhatt Rs 26
lakh in 2009 to be invested for six years. Another victim, a bank
employee, had deposited Rs 38 lakh in recurring deposit and MIS schemes
through Bhatt. In many cases, he never deposited the money and, in some
cases, he deposited partial amounts. Some depositors got suspicious when
they did not get their money on maturity.
While Bhatt is in Taloja jail, his wife and daughter are in Byculla Women's Prison.
MUMBAI:
Economic offences wing (EOW) arrested two directors of a construction
firm for duping the proprietor of an event management firm staying at
Marine Drive. The accused took Rs 4 crore in 2008, promising him a flat
in a JVPD building by July 2010. But he never delivered the flat or
returned the money.
Prakash Barot
(55) and Umesh Rao (57), both directors of Zenal Construction Pvt Ltd,
were produced before Esplanade court, which remanded them to police
custody till March 20.
The
complainant had booked a 1,500 sq ft flat on the 8th floor of the
building the accused were to construct as part of a redevelopment
project. The accused had kept flats up to the fourth floor for tenants,
and the rest were to be sold. "They had constructed the building up to
the fourth floor when BMC issued a stop work notice. The tenants ran
from pillar to post to get the building constructed. They later
approached another builder, who took over the project.
The
accused kept telling the complainant that work would start soon. Fed up
with their promises, the complainant demanded his money back. When they
did not pay him back, a complainant was lodged and an FIR was filed in
October last year for cheating, breach of trust and under various
sections of Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act (MOFA).
Police
are probing if more home-buyers were cheated by the duo. Police sources
said this was the third case against Barot. In another case with Amboli
police, under MOFA, a businessman said he had paid Rs 2 crore for a
flat in the same project. A home-buyer had complained to Juhu police too
that he had paid Rs 2 crore to the accused.
MUMBAI:
The city economic offences wing (EOW) on Monday arrested a 59-year-old
bogus doctor for jumping bail and not attending court. The accused,
Shivaji Banke, along with 226 other bogus doctors, was chargesheeted
around 15 years ago. Trial in the case is in the final stages.
Banke was first arrested in 2002 by police inspector Rajan Katdare. The
officer, who investigated the state-wide scam, had arrested more than
152 doctors. As investigation continued, more doctors were arrested from
various parts of the state. "After his arrest in the case, Banke was
jailed and later released on bail. He would attend court, but later
stopped coming," said an officer.
After receiving information about Banke's presence in his hometown,
Kolhapur, an EOW team brought him to Mumbai on Monday. The court had
initially issued a bailable warrant against Banke. A few years later,
the court issued a non-bailable warrant and, finally, a standing warrant
against him. Police were asked to execute the warrant.
"He ran a clinic in Kolhapur and had a certificate which showed he was
eligible to practice Ayurveda. There are hundreds of doctors in this
case like him who had procured fake degrees or certificates and were not
eligible for practice, but they did. Banke was working as a medical
representative at the time of his arrest on Monday," said an officer.
During interrogation, Banke told police he had secured good marks in
class XII in the mid-'80s but was unable to pay donation of Rs 35,000 to
get admission in a medical course.
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.
MUMBAI:
Cracking what could be one of its oldest cases, the city's economic
offences wing (EOW) arrested a former bank employee who had jumped bail
26 years ago in an over Rs 1-crore cheating case. The case file was
lying in the court as 'dormant'.
In
1993, Lal Ghanshani had filed a complaint stating that cheating and
forgery was committed by seven men, including the manager of Shalini
Sahakari Bank Ltd Bhagwan Mokashi and accountant Ashok Sawant. The
police registered the case of fraudulent encashment of a pay order,
arrested the seven suspects, and filed the chargesheet. During trial,
five of the seven accused died, including Mokashi. The court had issued a
warrant against Sawant, who jumped bail. He was finally arrested on
Monday from his Nerul residence. The seventh accused is still on the
run.
During
investigation, the police found that Sawant had moved out of Solitaire
House at Mahim after the building was demolished for redevelopment.
"Police teams visited Mahim at least 10 times but in vain. We were
trying to get in touch with the other residents of the building and
finally traced one of them. The police team got Sawant's contact number
from the building redevelopment committee, but he was no longer using
it. While scanning the call data record (CDR) of his old mobile number,
the police found that frequent calls were made and received from a
certain number. They obtained the CDR of the other number, which turned
out to be registered in the name of a relative of Sawant," said a police
source. From the relative's number, the police got another mobile
number registered in Sawant's name with a Nerul address.
A
police team kept a tab on the number's location for two days before
landing at the address and arrested Sawant on Monday. "He now deals in
real estate and shuttles between Navi Mumbai and Pune...Sawant was under
the impression that the file was closed and the police would never
reach him," said a police source. He has been sent to judical custody.
EOW chief Vinay Choubey and deputy commissioner of police Rajiv Jain
formed a team, led by senior inspector Kishor Parab, to trace Sawant.
The EOW is focusing on executing the standing warrants against the accused who are on the run.
MUMBAI:
Former NSEL director Joseph Massey, who has been in the news for
scripting a daring escape through a secret outlet from his home,
literally went off the radar by switching off his cellphone and
desisting from using credit or debit cards.
What led to his
arrest on January 27 was an analysis of the call data records of 60
persons known to him, a monitoring of their phones and combing of CCTV
footage from 50 buildings. Ultimately, a call placed to a watchman at
one of NSEL's offices from Navi Mumbai made the police zero in on
Massey's location. CCTV footage from there narrowed the chase down to a
silver car.
To track down Massey, the police carried out a
50-hour operation using high-tech devices and old-school hands-on
sleuthing. A police team even rented a flat in Vashi as part of the
operation. In police circles, the manhunt for Massey is being touted as
the most exhaustive tech-dependent one in recent years.
"Massey's
was a well-planned escape and we reacted suitable," said an officer. To
execute the plan to nab Massey, EOW chief Vinay Choubey formed a team
led by DCP Rajiv Jain, ACP Prabhakar Loke, senior inspector Ramchndra
Lotlikar, APIs Atul Kedar, Vikrant Shirsath, Wangale and Rahul Pawar,
and staff.
Two teams were formed, one to be at the EOW headquarters to monitor gadgets, and the other to be in the field.
The
field team surveyed 45 hotels and guesthouses in Mumbai and Navi
Mumbai, where, based on information, Massey was suspected to be hiding.
The persons whose phones were monitored included Massey's business
contacts, his company's office bearers and watchmen. The breakthrough
came while monitoring an NSEL office watchman's phone. "We learnt Massey
had used a PCO from Navi Mumbai to make a call. This was the first time
we got whiff of his location since his escape in mid-January," said an
officer. As Massey's location kept changing, the police hired a
technician with expertise in tracking cellphones based on minimal data
points. With the aid of the technician and CCTV footage, the police
learnt that Massey was going around in a silver car.
Ultimately,
it was blind luck that landed him in the police net. A cop spotted him
on a road in Belapur and alerted his colleagues. As the police closed
in, Massey tried to escape. But like a satisfactory movie ending, his
efforts were foiled.
Massey's custody was extended till Thursday on a request by the EOW, which wants him to confront former NSEL MD Anjani Sinha.
Mumbai: Shan Elahi Turky, advocate for the complainant, Shaan e Illahi,
in the Rs 500-crore Heera Gold cheating case, was allegedly assaulted
outside the City Civil and Sessions court near Kala Ghoda on Monday
afternoon. The advocate, who was bleeding from the head, was taken to a
hospital and later to the police station.
“I had come to file an intervention application in
the sessions court when a group of people, mainly agents in the Heera
Gold case and some investors standing nearby, assaulted me. They banged
my head against the wall and started yelling the accused, Nowhera
Shaikh, was behind bars because of me,” Turky told TOI. Colaba police
recorded Turky’s statement. The FIR filed by Turky has charged nearly a
dozen people.
Shaikh has been charged with cheating thousands of
investors in a Ponzi scheme. Complaints have been lodged at Thane, and
in Hyderabad and Aurangabad. Meanwhile, the city economic offences wing
has got 30 more applications from investors stating they have not got
their money back. “We have identified around half a dozen accounts
belonging to the Heera Group. We have sought transaction details of
these accounts,” said an officer. Mumbai-based agent, Saleem Ansari,
named in the FIR, is yet to be arrested.
MUMBAI:
The city economic offences wing (EOW) on Friday brought Heera Group of
Companies managing director Nowhera Shaikh to the city and arrested her
in a Rs 500 crore investment fraud case. She was produced before a
special court and remanded to police custody till November 3. Over two
lakh invested in schemes run by the Rs 1,000-crore group. Around 10,000
investors are from Mumbai.
EOW
registered an FIR on October 23, after a Bhendi Bazaar resident, Shane
Ilahi Shaikh, complained that he had invested Rs 6 lakh in Heera Gold
and it defaulted on payments. Shane told police he was promised monthly
returns of 2.8-3.2% on his investment. He got returns for a few months
but they stopped since June.
Police
searched the company's Bhendi Bazaar and Mira Road offices and named an
agent, Saleem Ansari, in the FIR as an accused. Agents would mainly
target Muslim, claiming the scheme gave a monthly profit, and not
interest, which is not allowed in Islam. Those named in the FIR include
Nowhera, director of Heera group of companies, Heera Gold Exim Ltd,
Heera Retail Pvt Ltd, Heera Textile Ltd, Heera Foodex Pvt Ltd, and
several agents for inducing investment.
A
police officer said, "We sought her custody to find out where she has
invested the customers' money. We need to find out offices of her
business projects and where are her business outlets and factories. She
claimed dealings in gold trading. We have to verify the information. The
profits she would give, of around 36% a year, are too high for any
business. We want to find out which business gave her so much profit for
several years." Besides the Hyderabad case against the group and
Shaikh, two cases are registered in Bhiwandi and Aurangabad.
Vineet
Dhanda, Nowhera's lawyer, said she was a victim of political vendetta.
"Complaints are being filed since she announced her entry into politics.
Mumbai Police on Friday took her custody from Hyderabad jail soon after
she signed the release papers." Dhanda said Nowhera had deposited Rs 5
crore with the special magistrate court in Hyderabad, as instructed, and
plans to return investors their money soon. "She planned to start
payments from November-December. We have two lakh customers. The serious
fraud investigation office (SFIO) has been probing her for seven months
and has not found any irregularity. If the MD is behind bars, how will
she return the money? Our intention is clear and we will return money to
our old customers first. Some customers are not even giving her
breathing time. She has been giving profits to customers for 15 years.
We are moving court on Monday for bail," said Dhande.
Mateen.Hafeez@timesgroup.com Mumbai: For three years, there were murmurs about an investment scheme,
run from Hyderabad, being on the verge of running aground. The police
were well aware about several people having invested in the Ponzi scheme
but with no complaint, they could do nothing. Finally on Tuesday, the
city police registered an FIR against Nowhera Shaikh, director of Heera
Group of Companies, for cheating 10,000 investors of Rs 500 crore after a
businessman, Shane Ilahi Shaikh, lodged a complaint at the JJ Marg
police station. Another FIR was registered against Shaikh in Aurangabad
on Tuesday.
The police said at least 2 lakh
investors from across the country have put money in the company’s
schemes and the scam amount may actually be Rs 1,000 crore. “In Mumbai,
investors have been discussing in private about the possible collapse of
the schemes but none of them came forward,” said a police officer.
Vinay Kumar Choubay, joint commissioner (EOW),
said “We have registered a case.” The Mumbai police will seek Shaikh’s
custody from Hyderabad police who arrested her last week in another
cheating case for similar Ponzi schemes.
Shane Ilahi Shaikh told TOI,
“I invested Rs 3 lakh in July 2017 and was promised a monthly return of
2.8-3.2%. As I got returns for a couple of months, I decided to invest
more so that I could buy a house. I stay in a rented room right now. I
sold my property and invested another Rs 3 lakh. But the firm stopped
paying profit since June. I made rounds of their office but could not
get the profit or principal amount.” “The agents would mostly target
Muslim investors by saying the scheme offered monthly profit and not
interest, which is not allowed in Islam,” said a source.
TOI had reported
about a group of investors approaching the EOW to register a case
against this group on October 20. Advocate Shan Ilahi Turky, who helped
the victims lodge complaints, said, “We have been coordinating with the
police for last two months and have provided all documents. We are
hopeful of justice.”
Mateen Hafeez MUMBAI:
A group of investors from the city, who had collectively invested
crores of rupees in the Heera Group of companies, approached the city
economic offences wing (EOW), with a complaint they had been conned. An
inquiry has been initiated into the matter. The investors met DCP Parag Manere who handed over their application to the EOW's intelligence unit.
Hyderabad police arrested Nowhera Shaikh, managing director of Heera
Group of companies and founder of All-India Mahila Empowerment Party, on
Tuesday after a cheating case was registered.
The Heera Group ran 15 different companies. Most investors are Muslims
as the company claimed it was conducting business based on Islamic
Sharia rules.
Social activist Adil Khatri approached Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai
police and the enforcement directorate and ministry of corporate affairs
seeking a wider probe. "Investors had put in money in the Heera Group
so that they could plan a Haj or a daughter's wedding with the high
returns promised. However, they have been left high and dry," said
Khatri.
Mumbai: Two directors of Royal Twinkle Star Club—a company in Wadala
which allegedly cheated several investors of at least Rs 4,500
crore-—were arrested on Saturday by officials of the economic offences
wing of the city police.
A police officer said they arrested Prakash
Uttekar (58) from Prabhadevi and Venkatraman Natrajan (60) from
Ghatkopar. “The two were directors in the firm and actively participated
in firm’s operations and conspired to cheat people.” said the officer.
The two directors will be in police custody till September 14.
The company’s managing director, Omprakash Goenka, had been arrested in June this year. He is currently in judicial custody. The police have so far received at least 11,000
complaints from investors. The complaint was first registered in Wadala,
at the Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Marg police station, and the case was
transferred to the economic offences wing. The police said the 18,000
investors include people from various walks of life across the
country—farmers, labourers, teachers, government employees and the
self-employed.
The first complaint in this case was lodged in
February this year. The complainant, a manager at a liquor shop, was
initially an agent for the firm and had himself invested his money and
that of his relatives’ and clients. The company had lured investors with
hotel stay packages based on reward points earned in the investment
scheme.
The accused have been booked under Indian Penal
Code and the stringent Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors’
Act. The state government has appointed a competent authority to look
after properties of the accused which have been attached.
MUMBAI: Citizens are feared to have lost over Rs 100 crore in yet another Ponzi scheme.
The city economic offences wing (EOW) began searches at the offices
of Atharva 4 U Infra and Agro Pvt Ltd on Friday. The action comes two
days after the police registered an FIR against four directorsof
thefirm.
The accused lured unsuspecting investorswiththe promise of doubling their money.
Those named in the FIR include Shivaji
Niphade, Ganesh Hajare, Sachin Gosavi and Mukesh Sudesh. “Our teams are
conducting searches at the firm’sofficesin Dahisar,Dadar and Thane. We
have seized a server and over half a dozen computers. Teams of forensic
experts have been called in for cyber analysis of the server and
computers,” said an EOW officer.
“The firm claimed it had business interests in construction, travel and
tourism, educational institutions, hotels and resorts etc. The directors
claimed would invest money (collected from investors) into these
businesses,” said an officer.
Dahisar resident, Sneha Deware, had lodged a police complaint stating
she had invested Rs 36,000 in 36 months and was promised Rs 49,000 on
maturity of the scheme in 2017. However, she did not get the returns or
the principal she invested.
“Investigation has revealed the
accused duped victims to the tune of over Rs 100 crore,” said an
officer, adding the amount could go up if more victims came forward.
Investors were given various investment options and they could start with a minimum Rs 1,000 per month.
The fraudsters had promised to double
the money if invested for five years, triple return on investment for
seven years and give four times return on investment if investors made a
10-year commitment.
The Times of India, June 16, 2018
MUMBAI:
The city economic offences wing (EOW), which probed a housing scam, has
submitted a charge-sheet against Madhukar Suryavanshi (48), for
cheating over 700 buyers of over Rs 10 crore.
The resident of Damu Nagar slums in Kandivli (E) was arrested by EOW
in February. He had promised to develop affordable housing in Malad, Borivli and Titwala,
said an EOW officer. Suryavanshi is currently in Harsul jail, near
Aurangabad, where he is facing three other criminal cases against him.
Ironically, Suryavanshi, who promised
to build houses for investors, himself lived in a slum. He had formed
Samyak Nivas Haqqa Sangh, and rented out an office in Parel in 2010. He
publicised his project by word-of-mouth.
The investors were from Mumbai, Navi
Mumbai, Thane, Ahmednagar and other districts of Maharashtra. The
charge-sheet contains the statements of victims, their bank
transaction details of payments, details of Suryavanshi’s bank accounts
and money he collected and paid to other people for buying plots and
raw material.
It said Suryavanshi had bought a site
in Titwala and took some buyers there to show them the project. Police
said he had used investors’ money to buy the plot. Once the money
stopped coming in, his project was also stopped.
MUMBAI: The economic offences wing (EOW) has begun a probe into a Rs 16-crore cheating case, wherein six directors of Universal Commodity Exchange (UCX), a commodity firm, allegedly misappropriated funds and cheated National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) and other firms.
Kuppa Narayana (52), deputy general manager (law department) Nabard, lodged a complaint with the Bandra-Kurla Complex police,
claiming that UCX directors—Ketan Sheth, Sonal Sheth, Pravin Pillai,
Ranjit Prabhu, Suhas Ganpule, Girish Deshpande—and others cheated
shareholders by misappropriation of funds, breach of trust and
falsification of documents.
UCX was promoted by IT professional Ketan from Commex Technology Ltd
and government institutions, like IDBI Bank, IFFCO, Nabard, Rural
Electrification Corporation, were shareholders in the bourse. As per
government rules, members from government agencies should be on the
commodity exchange, and therefore the shareholding was given to the
former too. The directors of the government agencies would attend the
meetings and participate in daily activities.
The government had also invested money
in the firm as it bought its shares. “Later, UCX kept some money in
fixed deposit in a bank and kept the FD as lein for a third party’s
loan. The third party, which had taken a loan of Rs 39 crore defaulted,
and this caused loss of Rs 16 crore to shareholders and government
firms,” an officer said.
UCX had got approval from the Centre
in August 2012 to start operations. In April 2013, the firm started
operations with 11 contracts in nine commodities. In 2014, UCX
operations were shut down after a fraud was suspected. In March 2018,
markets regulator Sebi allowed UCX to discontinue operations as a
commodity bourse. The shareholders appointed an auditor and during the
forensic audit, it was established that the FD was kept in lein for the
third party. “After the shareholders received the auditor’s report, they
decided to lodge a complaint,” said an officer.
Mateen Hafeez | TNN | Updated: Jun 2, 2018, 05:14 IST
MUMBAI: The economic offences wing (EOW) on Friday took the custody of Omprakash Goenka, managing director in Royal Twinkle Star Club (RTSC), for allegedly cheating investors of more than Rs 4,500 crore.
Police have now begun attaching the
resorts and hotels owned by the investment firm and are planning to
auction the assets to refund investors' money.
Goenka
was arrested by the Nashik (rural) police on May 20 in a cheating case
registered with the Lasalgaon police by Kavita Pagar, a homemaker. Pagar
lodged a complaint accusing Goenka and others of duping her of Rs 15
lakh. The investment firm had allegedly lured investors with high
returns. The victims, who collectively invested Rs 4,500 crore, were
promised total returns of around Rs 7,500 crore.
"A case was registered with the EOW in
February against Goenka and three other directors of the firm. We have
conducted search operations at several places including the offices of
all directors and their residences. More than 200 bank accounts
belonging to the accused and their firms have been frozen," a senior
officer said. Investigators have also attached over a dozen properties
belonging ot the accused and their firms.
MUMBAI: City businessman Omprakash Goenka who has been accused of defrauding around 18 lakh investors across the state of about Rs 4,500 crore has been arrested by Nashik cops from his Wadala office in one of the cheating cases. Goenka’s Royal Twinkle Star Club (RTSC) had allegedly lured investors with high returns. These investors were promised a total returns of around Rs 7,500 crore.
In August 2015, the securities and exchange board of India (Sebi)
had imposed a four-year ban on the firm and its four directors for
illegally raising over Rs 2,656 crore in the garb of ‘time share’
holiday plans. The capital market regulator, which had been keeping a
close watch on illicit money-pooling schemes, had directed the company
to refund the money along with promised returns to the investors.
The Nashik (Rural) economic offences wing (EOW)
police personnel picked up Goenka from his office on May 21 after a
group of investors from Lasalgaon, near Malegaon, lodged a complaint
saying they were cheated of Rs 1.8 crore by RTSC. While Goenka is the MD
of RSTC, police are yet to arrest three directors. Goenka has been sent
to police custody till May 31.
One of the victims, Kavita Pagar (38), a homemaker, said she had
invested Rs 15 lakh she had saved over the years. “We have got around
1,200 to 1,300 investors so far. The have approached us,” said an
officer from the Nashik EOW. The Mumbai EOW is also probing a separate
case against RTSC office bearers for cheating thousands of investors.
The Mumbai EOW has so far received over 500 complaint letters.
“The complaint was first registered at
Mumbai’s Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Marg police station and later transferred to
the EOW. The investors include farmers, labourers, teachers, government
employees, businessmen and agents. The schemes—Crystal, Saffron, Gold,
Silver, Bronze, Royal and Orange —continued from 2008 to 2016,” said a
police officer.
RTSC ran such schemes across the
country, said a police officer. In the Mumbai case, the complainant, who
works as a manager at a liquor shop, was also an agent for the firm and
had invested not only his own money, but also of his relatives and
clients, said police.
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“The accused had also promised hotel stay packages, based on the reward
points, to the investors. We have booked the accused under various
sections of the Indian Penal Code and stringent law Maharashtra
Protection of Interest of Depositors’ Act,” added an officer.
The EOW had early this year carried out searches at six places in Mumbai.
MUMBAI:
A chargesheet has been filed against five people accused in a cheating
case involving letters of credit to the tune of Rs 290 crore. A letter
of credit, or LC, refers to a credit facility extended by a bank or a
group of banks.
The economic offences wing of the city police has filed the
chargesheet. The alleged cheating case involves Parekh Alluminex Ltd
(PAL), a company which has its factory in Silvassa near Gujarat.
It makes aluminium foil and aluminium containers. Besides this,
Central Bu- reau of Investigation is probing six other cases against the
same company for allegedly cheating a group of 21 banks to the tune of
Rs 1,100 crore.
A police officer said that PAL had sought for a letter of credit for
some business deals with some other companies. The other companies had
alle- gedly also endorsed that they were getting into such a business
transaction with PAL, the- reby voicing their accord for the credit
facility.
The chargesheet which runs into more
than 8,000 pages mentions that the documents submitted to the banks were
fake. “The company availed of the funds purportedly to finance its
business deals, but ended up diverting this money for purposes other
than what the funds were meant for,” said an officer.
Another officer said that the police have now taken over the company’s
factory at Silvassa. Besides, 30 bank accounts have been frozen but
there was hard- ly any money in the accounts. “All the main accused
played a vital role in criminal conspira- cy to avail of the credit
facility of Rs 290 crore,” said the officer.
The banks eventually declared the
loans as non-performing assets. In banking jargon, this refers to bad
loans. Last month, three directors of various firms were arrested for
cheating. Those arrested last month include director in Trisons Metalex Pvt Ltd Bhawarlal Bhandari, director of Suryakiran Ferror Alloys Ltd Premal Goragandhi, and director of M/s Sikkim Ferro Alloys Ltd Kamlesh Kanungo.
