Mumbai Police chief reprimands EOW in cheating case

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police is facing flak from police commissioner Sanjay Barve in a ₹9-crore cheating case involving the former vice-president

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police is facing flak from police commissioner Sanjay Barve in a ₹9-crore cheating case involving the former vice-president of a mobile learning app.

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According to police sources, Barve has found “negligence” and “lack of transparency” in the handling of the case and is upset at the EOW for conducting raids on the accused’s office, as he believes that the case falls under the cyber police department. Barve has transferred the case for a “professional investigation” to the cyber police and also transferred the investigating inspector to the special branch-1 of the Mumbai Police.

A senior IPS officer said, “Barve probed the matter and found some more deliberate negligence on the part of the EOW officers while conducting the preliminary inquiry, even before the case was filed. He pulled up the EOW officers for negligence and transferred the case to the cyber police.”

On July 31 Adam Khorakiwala, the founder of a prominent learning app, ‘mGuru’, approached the NM Joshi Marg police, alleging that the former vice-president of an e-learning app, Sahil Seth, had stolen the complainant’s projects, computer files and used them for his own e-learning app, thereby causing him losses worth ₹9 crore. Seth and Khorakiwala had launched mGuru, before the accused left to launch his own app, Lido Learning, the FIR stated.

While Khorakiwala refused to comment on the case, Seth told HT that the claims against him have been fabricated.

“This is a completely false and fabricated case, which is being used for extortion, due to a purported loss of opportunity in an alleged civil claim,” he said.

“I was never a shareholder, director or employee of HCL [Khorakiwala’s company]. My joining was contingent to favourable shareholding terms, and agreeing on funding and roles. I parted with Adam as we could not come to terms. I have built Lido from scratch. This case is being handled by the police as they see fit and due process is being followed. I have cooperated completely with the police,” Seth added.

Considering the magnitude of the fraud, the NM Joshi Marg police transferred the case to the EOW in August. However, Barve allegedly discovered that the EOW followed some “fishy” procedures while booking Seth and that the case was dealt with unusual speed. He also found it suspicious that the EOW officers raided the premises of Seth’s firm twice in a short span. Barve also suspects that the alleged fraud amount of ₹9 crore is not ascertained properly.

An EOW officer, however, said that the case pertains to intellectual property rights (IPR) and as the EOW has a separate unit for probing such cases, its officers are justified in the registration of the FIR.

Another senior IPS officer said that the allegations in the FIR are subject to verifications and does not make anyone guilty at this stage.