In a major breakthrough for Mumbai police, the teams of cops at the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) have successfully arrested three for duping people by asking money from them on the pretext of investing their money and giving them profitable returns. The complainants include five police officers. The accused identified as Kartik Shrivastav has as on date, duped people of Rs 20 cr.
According to the police, the accused Shrivastav used to pretend to be a businessman and lure people to invest their money by offering high interest returns somewhere between 180-400%.
The incident came to light when a Mahim-based doctor filed a cheating case against Shrivastav at a local police station. In his statement given to the police the doctor said, that he was introduced to Shrivastav at a local gathering in 2013.
They got friendly and Shrivastav introduced him to his investment plans with huge profit.
“The accused lured the complainant to invest in his firms named Kartick Nutraceutic; Epitom; Capital; Grassroot Software and Kartick Agri Business Pvt. Ltd. promising that the rate of interest will increase resulting into huge profit earning,” said a police officer attached to investigation. Investigations revealed that five police personnel were also lured and cheated by the accused of Rs. 51 lakhs in these schemes.
“As a part of his gameplan, the accused used to invite investors to a quarterly meeting at five star hotels and later explain to them about how and when they will get their returns. The accused would name businessmen and bureaucrats, who were invested in his firms and this would be done to impress the investors,” said a police inspector attached to EOW.
“The accused Shrivastav has been arrested; we are questioning him and are trying to find out how many more people have been lured by him. Till date, fourteen victims have come forward and given their statements to the police including five police personnel. Of the five, two are retired police officers and three are serving policemen. Other victims range from medical practitioners to businessmen,” the officer added.
Cops have also arrested his three family members who were involved in cheating along with Shrivastav. As per the investigations, the accused had collected Rs. 11 crores in cheques from the victims and Rs.9 crores in cash.
“They had given a return of Rs 5.65 crores to the investors. The arrested accuseds are booked under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code r/w section of Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act,” he added.
Mohit Naik
