PUNE: At least 11 investors were duped of Rs4.5 crore from December 2021 till date by a Warje-based stock trading company – the third financial fraud of its kind in the city in the last fortnight.
The Pune police have arrested the company’s owner and stockbroker, Niranjan Shah (42). But they have yet to arrest the men behind the previous two frauds.
In all three cases, the method of deceiving investors was the same – promising unrealistically high investment returns and then closing offices overnight or claiming huge losses in stock trading business, as in the case of the latest scam, leaving investors in the stick.
On November 1, Pune police’s Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) had registered a case against an investment firm with offices in Kharadi and Mumbai for defrauding 90 investors of Rs 3.39 crore. Rs. between September 2021 and October this year. Two of the five men associated with this company were already facing a case registered with the Cantonment police.
The EOW on November 8 registered another case against a Bibvewadi-based stock trading firm, accused of defrauding seven investors of a total of Rs5.12 crore between February and October this year. The company promised 10-14% monthly return on investment while collecting money from investors. It paid the promised returns for the first two months and then stopped the payments.
In the current case, EOW Assistant Inspector Sandeep Khandagle said on Friday, “We arrested Shah following a complaint lodged by a 41-year-old furniture businessman from Indapur in rural Pune on Thursday. He invested Rs 3.1 lakh. Till now the furniture businessman, his relatives and his friends, who invested various amounts with Shah, approached with complaints. We suspect that the number of investors being duped is more.”
Khandagle said, “The complainant had learned that Shah was doing well in equity business and offering handsome returns to investors for the last seven to eight years. He and others invested in two companies of Shah’s but failed to get the promised returns after a couple of months.”
The investors put Shah on several occasions. He sought time to repay the interest but never kept his word. The investors then filed a complaint with the EOW. A case related to cheating and criminal breach of trust under Sections 420, 406 and 409 of the Indian Penal Code and under the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act was registered with the Warje Malwadi police.
The officer said Shah had claimed that he was in possession of a Shop Act license to run the stock business. He told the police that he had suffered heavy losses on the stock market and that he was therefore unable to pay returns to the investors.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (EOW) Srinivas Ghadge said, “The risk of making investments is high if the stockbroker’s credentials are not verified. Victims with no knowledge of stock trading fall victim to assurance that they will get a good return, which is more than what the banks pay for the customers. Victims wait for a long time to receive money. When all efforts to get their money back prove futile, they turn to the police for help.
The Pune police have arrested the company’s owner and stockbroker, Niranjan Shah (42). But they have yet to arrest the men behind the previous two frauds.
In all three cases, the method of deceiving investors was the same – promising unrealistically high investment returns and then closing offices overnight or claiming huge losses in stock trading business, as in the case of the latest scam, leaving investors in the stick.
On November 1, Pune police’s Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) had registered a case against an investment firm with offices in Kharadi and Mumbai for defrauding 90 investors of Rs 3.39 crore. Rs. between September 2021 and October this year. Two of the five men associated with this company were already facing a case registered with the Cantonment police.
The EOW on November 8 registered another case against a Bibvewadi-based stock trading firm, accused of defrauding seven investors of a total of Rs5.12 crore between February and October this year. The company promised 10-14% monthly return on investment while collecting money from investors. It paid the promised returns for the first two months and then stopped the payments.
In the current case, EOW Assistant Inspector Sandeep Khandagle said on Friday, “We arrested Shah following a complaint lodged by a 41-year-old furniture businessman from Indapur in rural Pune on Thursday. He invested Rs 3.1 lakh. Till now the furniture businessman, his relatives and his friends, who invested various amounts with Shah, approached with complaints. We suspect that the number of investors being duped is more.”
Khandagle said, “The complainant had learned that Shah was doing well in equity business and offering handsome returns to investors for the last seven to eight years. He and others invested in two companies of Shah’s but failed to get the promised returns after a couple of months.”
The investors put Shah on several occasions. He sought time to repay the interest but never kept his word. The investors then filed a complaint with the EOW. A case related to cheating and criminal breach of trust under Sections 420, 406 and 409 of the Indian Penal Code and under the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act was registered with the Warje Malwadi police.
The officer said Shah had claimed that he was in possession of a Shop Act license to run the stock business. He told the police that he had suffered heavy losses on the stock market and that he was therefore unable to pay returns to the investors.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (EOW) Srinivas Ghadge said, “The risk of making investments is high if the stockbroker’s credentials are not verified. Victims with no knowledge of stock trading fall victim to assurance that they will get a good return, which is more than what the banks pay for the customers. Victims wait for a long time to receive money. When all efforts to get their money back prove futile, they turn to the police for help.