2 days ago
Businessman cheated: Court rejects anticipatory bail plea of accused in Rs 43 crore ‘dabba trading'
In a case filed by the police for alleged cheating of a city-based businessman to the tune of nearly Rs 43 crore in 'dabba trading', a court has rejected the anticipatory bail plea of the accused.
A case was filed by the L T Marg police against Ladulal Kanther, his son Pallav Kanther and nephew Shubham Mahavir Kanther earlier this month on allegations that they had cheated the complainant businessman. The court rejected the pre-arrest bail plea of Shubham on Thursday.
'The investigation is at initial stage. Yet the huge quantity of gold and money is to be recovered. The offence is of a serious nature. A detailed investigation is necessary. The possibility of tampering with prosecution evidence cannot be ruled out,' the court said.
The allegations against the accused are that they had met the complainant through a chartered accountant and presented themselves to be engaged in trading of gold and silver through their firms, Maxis Bullion and Pallav Gold, with the promise of good returns on their investments. It was alleged that the complainant had initially invested Rs 2.2 crore which was repaid by the accused and subsequently invested 36.4kg gold and Rs 10.51 crore in cash between 2023 and 2024.
The accused delayed repayment business citing slowdown due to gold price fluctuations and assured repayment once operations normalised. As the repayment kept getting delayed, the accused admitted to have invested in an illegal speculative gambling activity, referred to as dabba trading, for betting on stock prices outside the exchange. The complainant alleged that cheques issued by the accused for repayment too were dishonoured.
Shubham in his plea claimed that he was falsely implicated and that this was not a criminal case but a civil dispute. The court said that a probe is necessary into the allegations and rejected the plea.
