Maha: Jewellery firm owner held for duping 13 investors of Rs 8 crore

Police have arrested the owner of a jewellery firm in Thane district of Maharashtra for allegedly duping at least 13 persons to the tune of nearly Rs 8 crore by promising good returns on investments, an official said on Thursday.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Thane police's crime branch arrested the accused, identified as Virit Gopalan Nair of VGN Jewellers, on Tuesday night, he said.

Nair along with his wife had set up the jewellery and financial firm and started accepting deposits from the investors promising them lucrative returns. The couple had set up the branches of their firm at Dombivli, Ulhasnagar (both in Thane district) and Mulund (in Mumbai).

Between 2006 and February 2021, they accepted investments from people under various schemes. As per one of the schemes, each investor could invest Rs 500 for 24 months and get Rs 14,000 return or an equivalent amount of gold. The other scheme involved fixed deposits for one to five years, on which they could earn 15 per cent interest per annum. He accepted investments from new customers and paid back the old customers, the police said.

Nair duped the complainant in the case to the tune of Rs 66,36,500 by not paying back his investment, following which the latter lodged a complaint with the Kolsewadi police station in Kalyan division under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 406 and 409 (pertaining to criminal breach of trust), and also section 3 of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act, 1999 against Nair, they said in a statement.

The accused cheated a total of 13 investors in a similar manner, including the complainant to the tune of Rs 7,99,63,710, and misappropriated their money, the police said.

Further probe into the case was being carried out by the EOW.