Michael Ferreira, four others arrested in Qnet scam

Former Billiards champion Michael Ferreira and four others were arrested by the officers of Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on Friday for their alleged involvement in the multi-crore QNet fraud case.

The special Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishment Act (MPID) court had asked Ferreira and four others to surrender themselves before the designated court on Thursday. However, the five had informed the court that they would surrender either before the court or before the EOW.

"Ferreira and four others involved in the case have been placed under arrest and will be interrogated further in regards to the case," said deputy commissioner of police, EOW, S Jayakumar.

The five accused including Michael Ferreira are charged under Sections 420 (mischief), 468 (forgery), 471 (witting use of forged documents) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). They are even charged with relevant section of MPID Act.

QNet allegedly lured more than five lakh investors in different schemes ranging from Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 7 lakh. Five lakh investors are known to have lost their money in this case. The EOW has registered cases against Qnet, Transview and two other companies in 2013. With fresh arrests, the total number of persons arrested in the case has gone up to 22. The bank accounts of QNet have been frozen with Rs 110 crore.

In January 2014, during the questioning, Ferreira told the EOW that he had invested in Vihaan, the Indian franchisee of QNET, but clarified that he had no direct control over the business operations. "My role was limited to that of a shareholder," Ferreira had then said.