Firm owner held for duping 1,100 people

Officers of the Powai police station have arrested a 31-year-old software firm owner who has allegedly duped about 1,100 investors across India to the tune of Rs3.2 crore.
The accused, Kaustubh Choksi, director of Sadharta Retail Limited, allegedly duped people with a promise to double their money within 20 days.

Police said Choksi is a computer engineer who suffered huge losses in his business because of which he could not pay the salary of his 35 employees. That was when he decided to float this investment plan on September 24. The police learnt about the scheme in an undercover operation when an officer, posing as an investor, approached Choksi.

The police have booked the Choksi, his mother Anjana, 55, the company’s finance director Sanjay Mehta, and other employees of the company, Manoj Soni, 40, Jaman Palan, 36, Shaunak Doshi, 34 and Manish Barasia, 30.

Senior inspector Rajdoot Rupwat of the Powai police station said Choksi revealed he and his mother had planned this investment scheme so that they could invest the investors’ amount in their company and return it to them after the firm started making profit. The officer said the police had frozen the bank account in which Choksi had depostited Rs2.5 crore.