The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of city crime branch recently arrested two more top officials of a private limited company which used to promise investors gold coins in return for investment, and monthly returns on getting more investors for the company. To gain trust, one of the people arrested earlier had told investors that he was an ex-IPS officer. The alleged fraud runs into Rs 22.26 crore, the police said.
Those arrested are Amit Zaveri (37), a resident of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, and Sunil Vora.
According to EOW, the complainant (name withheld) is a consultant to various insurance and mutual fund companies. In April-2012, one of his friends told him on mobile about a company, Sowerable Jewellery India Limited (SJIL), and its investment scheme. The company had its office in Gorai.
On the investment-and-returns plan of the company, the officer said: “An investor has to deposit a minimum Rs12,000. He will get a user ID and password to access the company website. Once s/he had invested, the investor will get a one gram gold coin per month for nine months. After becoming a member, the investor has to introduce two new members.”
Then the investor will get Rs1,000 (after deducting service tax and TDS, i.e. Rs825) as binary commission from the company. S/he will get the first gold coin within eight days of investment and other gold coins will be delivered on the same date every month.
The complainant had got this information from his friend, but he preferred to know more about the company and hence visited the SJIL office.
The complainant's friend then introduced him to three people: Vora, Zaveri and the accused arrested earlier, Prakash Wakharia, who had claimed to be the CMD of the company.
Company directors told the complainant that SJIL would buy raw diamonds with the money it collected and convert it into finished studded jewellery. These jewellery would then be sold in the market for the best possible price. Thus SJIL made good profit and gave high returns to its investors, he was told.
“Wakharia told the complainant that he, an ex-IPS officer, was one of the top officials of the company, and assured him of high returns on his investment. The complainant was impressed as a former IPS officer the top official of the company,” said an EOW officer, requesting anonymity.
On April 18 last year, the complainant deposited Rs12,000 at the company office and took an ID and password and started to access the company website. He then introduced new members to the company to earn binary income which the scheme had promised. Thereafter, the complainant again bought another 14 IDs in the name of his family members.
“The complainant invested in total Rs1.80lakh, but received 10 one-gram gold coins for each ID only for a month. The company then started delaying on returns. The complainant later learned that many other investors too hadn't received returns. He then lodged a case at Borivli police station (last year), which transferred to the EOW for investigations,” said the officer.
Wakharia was arrested this January.
“Investigations have revealed that Zaveri has been involved in similar frauds and had cases at MIDC and DB Marg police stations. It has also come to light that the company had collected Rs 33.21 crore from investors and 27,973 IDs had been sold. The company has distributed Rs 10.95 crore among investors and has siphoned off Rs 22.26 crore,” the officer said.
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