Latest news with #MPID
Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Court: Property buyers can't be added as accused in investment fraud case
Mumbai: A special MPID court recently ruled against adding as accused two persons who purchased a property for Rs 2.6 crore from two accused in an investment fraud case involving Cosmo Investment and Athena Investment. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The court held that those whose involvement is not direct in managing the fraudulent financial establishments cannot be added as accused. "Even if the submission that respondent numbers 10 and 11 (purchasers) acted as agents of respondent numbers 1-7 (accused), they cannot be added as accused. Respondent numbers 10 and 11 are not directors of the firms. They are not persons responsible for the business or management of the business. The role of respondent numbers 10 and 11 is only that they paid Rs 2.60 crore out of the consideration amount to 34 investors on the instruction of respondent numbers 1 and 3. Thus, even if they are considered as agents, they cannot be added as accused," Judge N G Shukla said. The plea was filed by one of the investors, Arvind Solanki (67), against the existing accused in the fraud case—Juhu residents Amit Masalia, Prakash Masalia, Dina Masalia, Payal Masalia and Mayank Doshi, Cosmo Investment and Athena Investment, as well as the property purchasers Jitendra Shah and Kirti Shah. Solanki claimed the transaction was fraudulent. Amit, Prakash, Dina, Payal and Doshi were involved in the two firms. They are accused of defrauding 42 investors by failing to return substantial investments along with promised lumpsum benefits and interest. The victims invested around Rs 22.37 crore. A case under the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act was filed in 2018. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Names of 15 depositors and their investments were revealed after the chargesheet was filed. During their anticipatory bail proceedings, the accused returned the invested amount to the original complainant and her relatives, leading to the grant of their bail. At that time, a property previously attached by the investigating officer was also released. This property is an office space in Andheri West. Shortly after, Amit and Prakash sold it for Rs 2.75 crore. After an initial payment of Rs 15 lakh, the remaining Rs 2.6 crore was paid directly to 34 investors, victims of the fraud. The advocate representing Solanki argued this property sale was a "mala fide transfer" aimed at circumventing asset attachment under the Act. It was contended the Shahs acted as agents for the original accused and committed fraud by selectively repaying certain investors, some of whom were not named in the original chargesheet. However, advocates representing the Shahs argued they legitimately purchased the property and fulfilled their payment obligations by settling debts with investors as instructed by original sellers.
Time of India
23-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
22 years on, woman acquitted in 52cr cheating case
Mumbai: In a 22-year-old case of cheating the public of Rs 51.7 crore by accepting deposits offering high returns, a special court acquitted a 61- -yea-old woman, saying it has not been established that she had accepted deposits or she had intention to deceive investors. The court acquitted Malad (west ) resident Bhavana Thakkar while the case against her husband Ajay Thakkar got abated. He died by suicide in Gujarat. Special Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act judge Nikhil Mehta said that it could not be established that Bhavana was promoter, partner, director, manager responsible for the management of or conducting of the business or affairs of the financial establishment. "It could not be established that depositors entrusted any money with Bhavana to be utilised by financial firms to gain profit to be used in repaying deposits with interest to investors. The court said, "There is no material to show that Bhavana had promised any specified service against said deposit with an intention of causing wrongful gain for herself and to cause wrongful loss to depositors." Ajay along with his wife and other family members had formed a financial institution in 1998 and started accepting deposits from people with a promise of higher returns of 1% to 1.5% per month. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Este suplemento pode ser o que falta para seu bem-estar completo AlwaysFit Undo Bhavana Thakkar and her husband used to issue bills of exchange as acknowledgment of having accepted deposit and also issued post dated cheques consisting of interest sum on the deposit. The firm accepted the deposits in form of cash as well as in form of cheque and in return they gave a bill and also a postdated cheque as assurance. From March 2001 onward, the financial firm stopped giving interest to depositors on their invested money. The court said that there was no evidence to show that she was a promoter or responsible for the management of Ajay's business. "She never promised them higher returns which suggest that she never made false and wrongful representation with intention to deceive investors," the court said while acquitting her. One of the witnesses relied on bank entry to show that the cheque issued in the name of Bhavana was debited from his account. "Mere filing of bank statement would not be any of support to the case of prosecution unless there is proof of record to indicate that those statement are actually issued by witness bank," the court said. There was no intention on her part to deceive depositors, which got fortified from the statement of witnesses that she never approached them for deposit, the court said.
Time of India
17-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Radius Sumer Developers' promoters arrested for cheating buyers in 'failed' South Mumbai project
MUMBAI : Well-known developers Ramesh Shah (65) and his son Rahul Shah (40) of Radius Sumer Developers were arrested by city police's Economic Offences Wing Friday on charges of luring 78 flat buyers to invest in a housing project in Mazagaon, failing to develop it and cheating them out of Rs 35.7 crore, reports S Ahmed Ali. EOW's general cheating unit arrested the father-son duo from their plush apartment in Gamdevi and produced them before the special MPID court, which remanded them to police custody. The complainant is Mahesh Mirani and his non-resident Hong Kong-based brother, Purushottam, who accused the developers and its director, Sanjay Rajkumar Chhabria, of defrauding them since 2016 by luring them to invest in the failed 'Harbor Heights' project. The arrested father-son duo of Ramesh Shah (65) and his son Rahul Shah (40) of Radius Sumer Developers have been charged with cheating under Section 420 of the IPC and under the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act. Besides Mahesh and Purushottam Mirani, there are 77 other investors who invested or booked flats in the project, which was never developed, said investigating officer Ravindra Avhad. Mirani, a resident of Bandra West and proprietor of Metro Impex, claimed that he and his brother were lured into investing in the under-construction project during an exhibition in Hong Kong in late 2016. The project was promoted as a lucrative opportunity for NRIs seeking investment in Indian real estate. Following an in-person meeting with Chhabria and Rahul Shah in Feb 2017, the brothers entered into an MoU through their partnership firm, Metro Investment. The deal involved purchasing 18,181 sq ft of carpet area at Rs 28,875 per sq ft, amounting to a total of Rs 52.5 crore. An advance of Rs 21.95 crore was made via official banking channels and it was documented through tax receipts, allotment letters, and booking forms. The MoU included a two-year lock-in period, with provisions for a refund if the developer failed to obtain a commencement certificate (CC) up to the 25th floor of Tower 3. However, even by 2019, only a plinth-level certificate was issued. Consequently, a cancellation agreement was signed in April 2019. As per the new agreement, the developer issued eight cheques totalling Rs 35.7 crore, including interest and taxes. However, all cheques were dishonoured due to insufficient funds in the developer's bank account, leading to claims of deliberate default and fraud. Mirani alleged that despite repeated assurances and documented agreements, Radius Sumer Developers neither progressed with the construction nor returned the invested funds.
