Vile Parle-based trader booked for duping three Nagpur men of ₹20.90 cr

Mumbai: A director of a Vile Parle-based share trading firm and two others are being probed for cheating three of their customers to the tune of ₹20

Mumbai: A director of a Vile Parle-based share trading firm and two others are being probed for cheating three of their customers to the tune of ₹20.90 crore by buying shares with their money after promising good returns, selling a chunk of them without informing the investors, and pocketing the profit as well as keeping the rest of the shares.

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Forty-year-old Abhinav Fatehpuria of Nagpur-based Silverstone Infrastructure Private Limited on Saturday filed a complaint against Jasmin Shah, director of Vile Parel based JNM Realty, Deepika Jasmin Shah and Vishal Shah. The Juhu police station has registered a case in the matter and transferred it to the Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW). As per the police complaint, the said offence took place between July 20, 2021 and November 30, 2021.

According to the police, Fatehpuria and his two friends; Rahul and Rajkumar Agarwal, wanted to invest money in share trading and were looking for a good agency, which would help them earn good returns. Fatehpuria asked an acquaintance to help him and was referred to Jasmin Shah, one of the directors of JNM Realty.

Fatehpuria talked to Shah and tried to know his expertise in the field. Shah managed to convince him by claiming that he would invest his money in the companies, which have potential to deliver good profit in future. Trusting Shah, the Nagpur resident and his two friends transferred ₹20.90 crore to Shah’s bank account, stated the police complaint.

Shah started purchasing shares on behalf of the complainants and through WhatsApp message informed Fatehpuria and his friends he had bought 75 lakh shares worth ₹21.32 crore. However, his message did not mention the name of the company whose shares were purchased, a police officer said. When Fatehpuria insisted that Shah disclose the name of the company, Shah informed him that the shares are of Jaiswal Nico Ltd.

However, after a few days Fatehpuria, while going through the share registry of the company, discovered that Shah had gradually started selling off their shares in Jaiswal Nico Ltd without taking his consent. When he confronted Shah, the latter did not give a satisfactory answer and started avoiding conversation and later cut off all contact with him.

“Shah allegedly sold 49.93 lakh shares of the company without the complainant and his friends’ consent and did not give them the consideration of ₹13.35 crore and allegedly pocketed the entire money. Also, he kept the rest of the shares with him and did not give it to the complainant and his friends, thus causing a wrongful loss of ₹20.90 crore to the trio,” alleged Fatehpuria in the FIR.

The police have booked Shah and two others under sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. The investigators are in the process of securing relevant documents pertaining to unauthorised selling of shares, a police source said.