FIR lodged against Income Route founder for duping investors

Founder and CEO of financial services company Income Route Investment and Financial Services Ltd, Dnyaneshwar Ghadge, has been accused of cheating thousands of investors for an estimated INR50 crore ($6.6m) after promising a 10% return on their investment in a Ponzi scheme. The FIR was lodged by Panvel resident Dhananjay Powalkar, who claims his immediate family and two younger brothers were duped for INR91 lakh. Ghadge is now missing and the police estimate that he had nearly 5,000 investors.

Thane: The police have registered an FIR against Dnyaneshwar Ghadge, founder and CEO of a financial services company for cheating thousands of investors for an estimated ₹50 crore after promising a 10% return on their investment in a ponzi scheme.

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The FIR was lodged by 46-year-old Panvel resident Dhananjay Powalkar, who works as a security guard with a company in Malad. According to his complaint, his colleague in the company first told him about Dhananjay Ghadge’s company Income Route Investment and Financial Services Ltd in August 2022.

He said along with the friend, he had come to the Income Route office in a Wagle Estate building and met Ghadge, who told him that his company invested in the share market, and promised him 10% return on the invested amount.

Powalkar said he invested ₹1 lakh, and received ₹51,900 back from his account. He invested another ₹1 lakh, and received ₹49,500 in his account. Then he invested ₹9 lakh, but when no return came to his account, he called up Ghadge, who told him to get more of his friends, and relatives to invest, and assured him that his money will be paid soon into his account.

Like Powalkar, hundreds of people are coming forward to lodge their complaints at Shri Nagar police station. “Till today, we have recorded statements of 109 investors duped by Ghadge for ₹11 crore. Our investigation shows that Ghadge had nearly 5,000 investors. So, we estimate the scam amount is likely to cross more than ₹50 crore,” said Kiran Kabadi, senior inspector, Shri Nagar police station told HT on Sunday evening.

Ghadge had gone missing since February. Even his father lodged a missing complaint with the police station.

The Income Route company’s website states that Ghadge holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Mumbai University, and his passion “to thrive as a financial planner and investment adviser to help people create wealth” inspired him to start the company. The profile mentions that before turning an entrepreneur he worked as an equity research analyst and stock market trader.

Police sources, however, said he had an engineering diploma and had even duped his classmates from his engineering college.