Retired naval officer duped of ₹46 lakh in investment fraud

The accused, Ramesh Sankhat alias K Patel, has been booked under sections 420 and 419 of the Indian Penal Code

MUMBAI: The Bhandup police have booked a man for allegedly duping a 54-year-old retired Navy officer of ₹46 lakh by promising he would invest the money in buying private four wheelers and reap huge profits by renting out the vehicles in Mumbai and Hyderabad.

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According to the police, the complainant, Amit Parulkar, lives in Girgaon in south Mumbai with his wife and 80-year-old father. Having retired from the Navy as a scientific officer a few years ago, he came across an advertisement of Rainbow Business Centre in a Marathi newspaper, which claimed investors would reap high returns.

Parulkar and his wife then visited the address listed in the advertisement at Bhandup, where they met a person named Ashish, one K Patel’s assistant, who told them about the investment scheme. Patel, he said, took money from investors using which he bought four-wheelers and rented them out to the corporate companies in Mumbai and Hyderabad with which he had agreements; he then shared the profits made from the corporate companies with investors. Ashish then introduced Parulkar and his wife with K Patel, who promised them a profit of 0.9% per day or 27% per month.

The retired Navy officer initially invested ₹1 lakh and signed a memorandum of understanding with Patel. During the initial 4-5 weeks, he received profits in his bank account. Once he began trusting Patel, he invested more money in the scheme including ₹12 lakh his wife took on loan. He also knew at least 8-10 other persons who had invested huge sums in the scheme.

After two years, however, Patel informed Parulkar that he had suspended the car rental business and wanted to invest in property, where the returns were double. He showed the retired Navy officer documents of a land parcel in Poladpur in Raigad district and asked him to invest more money, following which he invested ₹10 lakh.

It was only after Parulkar learned that Patel’s real name was Ramesh Sankhat that he started suspecting some foul play. His fears were confirmed when the accused stopped visiting his company’s office and vacated his house at Kanjurmarg. He then approached the Bhandup police station with a complaint, based on which the police registered a case against Ramesh Sankhat alias K Patel under sections 420 and 419 of the Indian Penal Code, said a police officer.