Two directors of an investment firm arrested for duping SoBo resident of ₹73L

Two persons were arrested for allegedly duping a south Mumbai resident of ₹73 lakh by posing as directors of an investment firm and promising high returns on investments in shares.

MUMBAI: Two persons were arrested for allegedly duping a south Mumbai resident to the tune of ₹73 lakh under the guise of helping him earn at least 5% monthly returns by investing in shares.

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According to VP Road police officials, the accused, Tejas Ghadigaonkar, 37, a resident of Mazgaon and his associate, Vinod Parmar, 40, who lives in the Ghodapdeo area in south Mumbai, allegedly posed as directors of an investment firm, Buckler Equity Shares Investment, for allegedly duping the complainant. Ghadigaonkar claimed that he owned the stock investment firm with two other members of its board of directors, including Parmar.

According to the police, the complainant, Sameer Manjrekar, works as a senior manager in a mutual fund and looks after the department of sales and business development, informed them that one of his common friends, Amol Jadhav, introduced him to Ghadigaokar in July 2019 and after a small interaction, he discussed prospects on investing in shares. He promised him good returns on investments in the share trading. After that, the complainant said, they met a few times and discussed investment options and Ghadigaokar also introduced Parmar to him.

From July 2019 to June 2020, Manjrekar transferred a total of ₹80.71 lakh in multiple transactions to the bank account of the accused person for investment. The accused even made an agreement promising him that he would get 5 % monthly returns on his investment, said a police officer.

The officer added that during the investigation, they learnt that the accused had deposited ₹7,43,475 in the bank accounts of the complainant and his family members towards 4.5 % returns on his investment from December 2019 to June 2020.

The accused later stopped paying the returns and when the complainant confronted him, he started giving him excuses. After a year he started avoiding his calls and messages. Manjrekar then realised that he would not get back even the principal amount that he had sought to invest, and approached the VP Road police station and submitted a written application, said a police official.

The police conducted a preliminary enquiry and after it became clear that the complainant was duped, booked Manjrekar and his co-director into the firm in October. The police arrested both the accused on Sunday and produced them before a metropolitan magistrate court which remanded them to police custody till January 3, added police.