Thane: VGN Jewelry Managing Director has been arrested on charges of nearly 20 investors more than Rs 15 Crore by promising a higher return on their deposits in various schemes.
Virath Gopalan Nair was arrested by the Thane police economy wing on Tuesday.
The amount of multi-crore fraud tends to widen — The total number of victims can be around 50,000 and fraud can be more than RS 100 Crore, said Sunil Lokhande, DCP (EOW).
In 2019, two kerinite brothers who had Goodwin Jewelers were arrested for failing to pay in a similar scheme.
V G Nair, also from Kerala, established himself as a reliable jewelry in the city in the 80s and is popular among Malayali communities, which are trusted and invested with him.
The VGN jewelry store was established in Mulund, Dombivli, Ulhasnagar, among other places.
As news about the arrest of Nair spread among investors, they began to flock to the EOW office at the police headquarters here to record their statements, a police officer said.
“At present, around 20 investors have approached EOW and recorded their statements and more victims will come in the next few days,” said Lokhande Toi.
A senior police officer told TII that fraud began in 2006 with the defendant lured the client with various schemes that offered their investment returns.
“In one scheme, a client must pay Rs 500 for 24 months (equal to Rs 12,000) and they will get RS 14,000 or gold jewelry from that value again.
Another scheme, which is prepaking trust, guaranteed 15% annual interest in spanning deposits from 1 Up to 5 years, “said a police officer.
Some investors told the police that they had invested their life savings only to realize that they had been cheated.
Last month, Nair was ordered, along with his wife and son, because of fraud and a case registered at the Kolsebadi police station in Kalyan.
This case is listed under 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal violations of trust by civil servants, or by bankers, traders or agents), and 406 (criminal violations of trust), along with other parts of Maharashtra depositors protection (MPID) acts.
The police have again urged residents not to fall prey in the scheme which offered extraordinary returns because there were every chance cheated.