Twitter
Advertisement

Cops probe Rs4.5 lakh fraud complaint, trail leads to Rs250 crore 'fraudster'

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

It started as a trickle, but as the Pune police started investigating a cheating complaint of Rs4.5 lakh, floodgates had opened. It turned out the accused Sameer Joshi was also alleged to have cheated thousands more in Nagpur, Amaravati and Akola for a staggering Rs250 crore. A retired government officer Krushna Dharamadhikari had lodged a complaint against Joshi and his wife Pallavi in December 2013 at the Dattawadi police station for allegedly cheating him to the tune of Rs 4.5 lakh after promising him to double his investment in two years. As the police started to probe the case, 71 more investors came forward to reveal how they had been lured by Joshi to invest their money in his group companies. It tuned out that these people had invested more than Rs five crore in Joshi's companies. As the magnitude of the investment went up, the case was transferred to the Economic Offences Wing.

"Joshi had appointed his agents in different cities who lured people promising to double their investment in just two years. Its a typical strategy- get a few to invest first, fulfill the commitment made to them and then use them to attract many more," said Hemchandra Kshirsagar, senior police inspector of EOW. Joshi had also launched another scheme where he offered sky high interest for staying invested for three months. Several retired officials fell prey to this and invested huge amounts in Joshi's companies.

An MBA grad, Joshi used to work in the marketing department of a private firm in Nagpur. He started a small shop in 2000 and offered handsome interest to those investing money with him. As he kept his promise initially, people started putting faith in him. But as the investments grew, Joshi couldn't keep up and eventually complaints were lodged against him in Nagpur and Amaravati.

"As per the information provided by Nagpur police, Joshi and his wife have been alleged to have duped more than 6000 investors in various schemes and over 300 had come forward to file complaints against them. Both were arrested for allegedly defrauding people of more than Rs 247 crore. Chargesheets were filed against them in Nagpur, Amaravati and Akola," Kshirsagar said.

Joshi is still confident he can return all money to all his investors as he has used the funds to start 18 different business ventures including mineral water plants, eateries etc. "He told the people his businesses were making profits," Kshirsagar added.

A search of Joshi's accounts has however revealed that there are hardly any funds in his banks and not much could be traced from the books of accounts or the asset documents. The couple has been arrested from Nagpur Central Jail on Sunday and have been remanded to police custody till March 10.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement