40 more victims approach EOW to complain against VGN Jewellers owner, who has been arrested for cheating

With 40 more victims approaching the EOW, the total money swindled by VPN Jewellers, whose owner has been arrested and wife booked for cheating, has gone up to ₹15Cr, police say

Around 40 more victims have approached the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Thane Crime Branch to register complaints against the owner of VGN Jewellers, who was arrested earlier this week for allegedly running a Ponzi racket, officials said on Friday.

The owner of VGN Jewellers, Virithgopalan Nair, has been arrested while his wife has been booked for allegedly running Ponzi scheme and cheating. (HT FILE)

The owner of the popular jewellery chain, Virithgopalan Nair, was booked along with his wife Valsala by the Kolsewadi police in Kalyan after 13 investors approached the police earlier this month. The investors had alleged that the couple had swindled them to the tune of ₹7.99Cr through various investment schemes, promising attractive returns. The case was transferred to the EOW and Nair was arrested on Tuesday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (EOW), Sunil Lokhande, said on Friday that apart from the 13 original complainants, 40 more had come forward with complaints of their own since Nair’s arrest.

“Statements have been recorded from all the victims and the total amount of money swindled by the accused has now gone up to around ₹15Cr. More victims are also expected to come forward in the days to come,” Lokhande said.

People have also started taking to social media to contact the police about having been cheated by the accused. One such victim, whose Twitter username is ‘Yatin59064881’, tweeted to the Thane Police on Friday saying, “@ThaneCityPolice Just got information that VGN Jewelers Owner is arrested by Economic Offense Wing(Thane) for Fraud. I have also invested 1.5 lacs in VGN scheme, so for this which police station I should approach as I stay in Dombivli. Thank You in Advance. (sic).”

The Thane Police replied to him, asking him to approach his local police station. Lokhande said that instructions have been issued to all police stations in the Thane commissionerate, asking them to transfer any and all complaints regarding the VGN Jewellers to the EOW.

“We are also in touch with our social media cell so that we can get to know of people tweeting to us about this case. A majority of the people who have come forward so far are from the Thane City area,” Lokhande added.

The jewellery chain had outlets in Thane, Dombivli, Ulhasnagar and Mulund, as well as a finance company in Kalyan. According to inquiries so far, the accused offered two schemes to investors from 2006 to 2021. The first scheme required the investor to pay ₹500 per month for 24 months and receive cash or gold worth ₹15,000 in return, while the second scheme offered a 15% interest on Fixed Deposits of one year to five years, officials said.

The accused have been booked for cheating and criminal breach of trust under the Indian Penal Code, along with relevant sections of the Maharashtra Protection of Interests of Depositors (MPID) Act.