EOW to restart its intelligence unit

Mumbai police's EOW is reviving its financial crime unit to combat schemes like the Torres Jewellery ponzi, which defrauded 125,000 investors of ₹1000 crore.

Mumbai: Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has decided to restart its financial crime intelligence unit following the emergence of the Torres Jewellery ponzi scheme, which escaped the notice of various intelligence agencies despite functioning since February 2024. The unit will focus on gathering intelligence on individuals and schemes promising high returns, which was its mandate before it was shut down four years ago.

EOW to restart its intelligence unit

On January 6, a large crowd gathered outside the Torres Jewellery store in Dadar after realising that they had been defrauded of their investments through a multi-level marketing scheme allegedly run by foreign nationals including Ukranian passport holders.

“As per the first information report, nearly 125,000 investors lost around ₹1000 crore in the Torres scam, which could have been averted had the EOW’s intelligence unit still been operational,” said a police officer.

The unit was dissolved in 2020 following allegations of corruption, leading to a vacuum in intelligence gathering on large scale financial crimes and investment frauds, the officer noted.

The unit will now be constituted afresh, with every police station having an officer who will gather intelligence at the local level and be in touch with officers and staffers of the unit.

The unit will have four to six highly trained and well-informed officers who will collect information about financial frauds, identify suspicious advertisements promoting exceptionally high returns or easy loans and inform senior officers about it.

“The unit will work with fraud and recovery intelligence and vigilance units of banks and financial institutions,” said the police officer.