Anchor Group co-founder booked in cheating case
Mumbai Police's EOW has filed a case against Anchor Group's Jadavji Shah for allegedly cheating ₹51 crore from developer Ashwin Sheth in a land deal.
MUMBAI: A case has been registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police against Anchor Group co-founder, Jadavji Lalji Shah, and Anchor Leasing Pvt Ltd for allegedly cheating Ashwin Sheth of Sheth Developers Pvt Ltd.
The police said the alleged incident of cheating and breach of trust took place in 2008, when the complainant transferred ₹51 crore to Shah’s bank account as security deposit, which was to be used later to develop a 70-acre plot of land in Andheri that belonged to Shah’s firm.
According to EOW officials, Ashwin Sheth, 63, a resident of Vile-Parle and founder of Sheth Developers, was looking for an investment opportunity, when he was informed by a middleman that Jadavji Lalji Shah and others owned a land parcel at Ambivli in Andheri West and were looking for a good developer to develop it.
“The complainant was told in meetings that the plan was to develop it in six years and the profit could go up to ₹3,000 crore. The Shah family seemed keen to give the plot for development to Sheth and asked him to deposit ₹51 crore in the bank accounts of Jadavji Shah, which was to be followed by a formal agreement and setting up of a Special Project Vehicle (SPV),” EOW officials said.
Accordingly, Sheth transferred ₹51 crore to Shah’s account. However, he was told that since the Shahs were facing tax-related issues, they would finalise terms of the agreement after the issues get resolved.
Later, they asked for more time citing a case filed against them in the Bombay high court. Thereafter, Sheth was contacted by their lawyers and was sent an agreement draft but the formalisation never happened. Then the pandemic came, and the process got further delayed.
“In the meantime, the complainant learnt that the money was transferred from Shah’s bank account to the bank account of Anchor Leasing Pvt Ltd and was used for some other purpose,” said an EOW officer. “They also refused to return the money after which it was decided to register an offence.”
After conducting a preliminary inquiry, EOW registered a case under sections 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.