EOW arrests 60-year-old in ₹14 crore fraud from unclaimed demat accounts

The arrested accused forged documents and created fake demat accounts in JM Financial Services Limited, claiming the unclaimed shares of the customers. The modus operandi involved opening bank accounts in the fake names of these customers, transferring shares into these accounts, and subsequently withdrawing money

Mumbai: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police arrested the third and last accused on Saturday involved in an alleged fraud of ₹14.11 crore, in which funds were fraudulently transferred from unclaimed demat accounts of stock broking firms.

The accused, Manish Shah, 60, was arrested from his Matunga residence.

The accused, Manish Shah, 60, was arrested from his Matunga residence.

The arrested accused forged documents and created fake demat accounts in JM Financial Services Limited, claiming the unclaimed shares of the customers. The modus operandi involved opening bank accounts in the fake names of these customers, transferring shares into these accounts, and subsequently withdrawing money. Till now, they have withdrawn ₹14 crore, and further probe is on, said an EOW officer.

Earlier in the case, EOW arrested two other suspects, Arvind Goyal, on December 22, last year, and Ashish Shah, on January 17, this year, for their alleged involvement. The accused are currently in judicial custody.

Shah was in constant touch with Goyal, and police have found several pieces of evidence against him that he helped to open an account on forged documents. He was produced in the court on Saturday and remanded in police custody till February 7, said the official.

According to the police, the complainant, Kunal Kothari, the vice president (legal) of JM Financial Services, brought the fraudulent activity to the attention of the police. The accused, impersonating officials of the concerned firms, managed to transfer shares and withdraw funds from the official demat accounts.

Narrating the fraud, police said the accused had somehow extracted the information of some customers of the complainant’s firm whose demat accounts had been lying dormant for some time. This was on account of the shares being expired or not being claimed for a long time. The accused, presenting themselves as representatives of the companies involved, forged PAN cards and Aadhar cards belonging to customers such as Sandhya Jain, Ashok Jain, Akhil Sawant, Deepsikha Roy, Belangadi Rao, and Jamshed Vakharia in the case of JM Financial Services.

The FIR for this case was initially filed at Kasturba Marg police station but was later transferred to the EOW due to the substantial amount involved in the fraudulent activities.