Manager of VGN Jewellers arrested by Thane EOW

The Thane Economic Offences Wing, on Tuesday, arrested the manager of VGN Jewellers that had allegedly duped over thousands of people by selling them ponzi investment schemes; the number of complainants in the case has increased to 14,340 while the value of money allegedly swindled has increased beyond ₹298Cr

The Thane Economic Offences Wing, on Tuesday, arrested the manager of VGN Jewellers that had allegedly duped over thousands of people by selling them ponzi investment schemes.

Thane Economic Offences Wing arrested the manager of VGN Jewellers. (HT FILE)

Earlier, the owners, Virithgopalan Nair and his wife Valsala, were arrested on October 5 while the manager was absconding.

In the meantime, the number of complainants in the case has increased to 14,340. The value of money allegedly swindled has also increased beyond ₹298Cr.

An officer informed, “We have arrested the manager, Leena Peter (45), and produced her in court. She has been remanded to police custody till March 11.”

Initially, 13 people from all over Thane district had registered complaints with the Kolsewadi police station in Kalyan, but later more than 14,000 complainants who had invested in this fraud scheme approached the police.

The two accused ran their racket from 2006 to 2021, during which time they lured their customers into investing money in a variety of schemes, promising impossibly high returns.

Police inspector, P Sawant of EOW, Thane, said, “The case involves many complainants and we are still conducting further investigations into the matter. The total value of the money that the accused have fraudulently obtained from the victims has gone up to ₹298Cr. A large number of the victims are senior citizens.”

The accused have invested much of it in the share market in which they have faced a loss of ₹42Cr. Sawant added, “So far, we have seized six bank accounts and five properties worth ₹46.24Cr. Peter used to remove jewellery from the lockers to invest somewhere else on directives by the main accused and several financial transactions have happened through her. There are still more than three accused wanted in the case.”