The MRA Marg Police have booked a fraudster for allegedly duping a number of citizens of close to ₹30 crore on the pretext of investment scam. The accused man contacted people by seeking contacts from the complainant's mother, a renowned Vastu Consultant, and sought investments, only to later allegedly dupe the investors. It is suspected that many more people could have been duped using the same modus operandi. While a case has been registered, the same was transferred to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW).
According to the First Information Report (FIR), the complainant, Chitkaran Khuraana, son of a renowned numerologist and Vastu consultant Biindu Khuraana, has said that his family was cheated of lakhs of rupees on the pretext of investing it for handsome returns. While Khuraana and his family had invested close to ₹60 lakh from June to December in 2020, the current valuation of the money as per the share market is over ₹13.8 crore.
Speaking to The Free Press Journal, Biindu Khuraana said that the accused, Siddharth Pilani, had come to her with a strong reference of one of her clients, who shared the investment plans and took her in confidence to share the same plan with her clientele as well as acquaintances. "Believing it to be a genuine investment plan, I invested money along with my family and gave Pilani's reference to my other clients as well in good faith, wherein he gained a clientele of over 170 people. We all invested money, and also received handsome returns initially as a means to gain our confidence following which we reinvested higher amounts, only to be later duped," said the renowned numerologist.
Months later, when the returns stopped coming and there was allegedly no correspondence from Pilani, when Khuraana checked his whereabouts, he was untraceable. While Pilani's brother asked for a meeting via a third person, the said meeting never took place as Siddhartth Pilani himself was nowhere in the picture.
The complainant has accused that while Pilani returned ₹64.85 lakhs as returns on investment, the current market value of the amount is ₹13.79 Crore with booked profits and holdings. Similarly, with over 170 investors duped with the same modus operandi, police suspect it to be a huge investment scam to the tune of ₹30 crore and more.
Biindu Khuraana said that the accused– Pilani and his associates have been trying to defame the numerologist. She told the FPJ that she has played no role whatsoever in the scam and in reality, was just as much of a victim as any of the other 170+ investors.
While the EOW registered a case of cheating, criminal breach of trust and common intention against Pilani and a Capital Berg proprietorship firm, according to the FIR, along with sections of MPID Act, they are probing the matter and no arrests have been made yet. When the FPJ tried contacting Pilani for his comment, he was unreachable
