A special court on Monday extended till April 8 the police custody of city-based chartered accountant Amber Dalal, accused of defrauding hundreds of people.
The Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) believes that the investment consultant operated his Ponzi scheme so cunningly that even his employees were in the dark about his methods, according to officials.
Six employees of Dalal’s Ritz Consultancy Services have told the EOW that they were made to do only clerical work and were told not to interfere in his transactions, the officials said. Of the six, five were given laptops, which the EOW has seized.
EOW Seeks Extension Of Custody For Ponzi Scheme Operator; Investors Claim Losses Of Rs 579 Crore
The EOW produced Dalal before the special court under the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act and sought extension of his police custody so that he could be questioned about the details collected from the laptops.
The defence lawyer, however, argued that Dalal’s custody was not required to analyse the data. After hearing both sides, the judge extended Dalal’s police custody till April 8.
The EOW informed the court that so far, 628 investors have approached them claiming to have lost a total of Rs 579 crore.
“EOW’s investigation indicates that the accused person has duped thousands of people, and the fraud amount involved in the matter is likely to go over Rs1,000 crore,” special public prosecutor Hiten Venegaonkar said.
Alleged Ponzi Scheme Operator Vanishes After Defaulting On Payouts
Dalal was allegedly running his Ponzi scheme since 2010, promising monthly returns of 1.5% to 1.8% on investments. He told clients that he invested the money in risk-free markets, including commodities. He had regularly been giving promised interest to investors for the past 14 years, until February 2024.
After defaulting on payouts between March 10 and 12, the Oshiwara-based Dalal vanished on March 14, causing panic among hundreds of investors who thronged his house and later the Oshiwara police station. EOW officials arrested him from a hotel in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, 12 days after he fled Mumbai.
