Two held in Navi Mumbai for cheating investors on promise of high returns; Rs 19 cr recovered

The Navi Mumbai Police have arrested two persons for allegedly cheating people by promising lucrative returns on their investment plans and recovered nearly Rs 19 crore from them, an official said.

The accused were carrying Rs 9.99 crore cash in 10 suitcases in a cab when they were nabbed on Friday, while another sum of Rs 9 crore was recovered after freezing their bank account, he said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone II Panvel) Pankaj Dahane told reporters on Saturday that the police took suo motu action (on their own) against the accused and seized the money. The police got information that the accused had sought investment worth crorers from a number of people in a circulation scheme and promised them a return of 40 per cent within 50 days, but did not pay the money, he said.

However, none of the victims from Pirkon and Bondkal villages came forward to file a complaint. The police held meetings in the villages to inform locals of such fake investments and asked them to file a complaint, but they were reluctant. The police then acted themselves and formed teams to nab the accused, the official said.

On Friday, the Uran police got a tip-off that one of the accused was to come to Koproli village in a car with the money taken from the investors, he said. Accordingly, the police laid a trap, intercepted a cab and found in it 10 suitcases containing Rs 9.99 crore in cash, the official said. The two cab passengers, Satish Vishnu Gavand (32) and Shashikant Anant Gavand (34), were arrested, he said.

The police also froze the bank account of the accused and recovered another Rs 9 crore, the official said.

Later, the police registered a case on a complaint filed by a woman who ran a mess in Uran. She had allegedly invested Rs 1.65 lakh with the accused on January 19, 2023 and they promised her a return of Rs 2.5 lakh on February 17, but did not pay the money to her, he said. The case was registered against the two accused under provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Scheme (Banning) Act, and the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act, the official said.

Considering the magnitude of the crime, a request will be made to the authorities to transfer the case to the Navi Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW), he added.