The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai police have arrested three persons in a multi-crore ponzi scheme scam in which several investors were lured into invest with promises of huge returns.
According to the EOW, the names of the arrested persons are Sukhdev Mhatre, Subhash Naik and Surdas Patil, all in their forties. The trio are associated with Atharva 4 U Infra and Agro Pvt Ltd, the firm under scanner of the fraud to the tune of Rs 450 crore, agency sources said. “The trio played the role of leaders and agents to attract more investors. They brought investments up-to Rs 100 crore from 15,000 investors,” said an officer privy to the investigation.
Investors were lured into investing in many schemes including monthly recurring deposits of small amounts. The accused took seminars and lectures in order to attract more investors. The firms had multiple offices in the city and had made investments in real estate. The EOW has attached properties worth around Rs 100 crore in the case. “The trio accused arrested earned a commission ranging from 15% to 20%. We were looking out for them. They were produced before a court which has remanded them to police custody,” said the officer.
Total 3 lakh investors had enrolled for the attractive saving schemes, some of which claimed double or triple returns in a stipulated period of time. Most of the investors belonged to Panvel, Thane and Mumbai region. The EOW has attached several properties of the firm in city and neighbouring areas. The agency had earlier conducted searches at the firm’s offices in Mumbai and Thane in which they had seized documents and data for analysis. The case in this regard was registered in 2018 in which EOW has arrested a total ten persons including Shivaji Nikale, managing director and Ganesh Hajare, director of the firm.
