Employees ‘unaware’ of CA Amber Dalal’s Ponzi scheme, says EOW; Mumbai court extends his custody to April 8

On Monday, the EOW produced Dalal before the special court under the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act and sought extension of his police custody so that he could be questioned regarding the details collected from the laptops. The defence lawyer, however, argued that Dalal’s custody was not required to analyse the data. After hearing both sides, the judge extended Dalal’s police custody till April 8.

The EOW informed the court that so far, 628 investors have approached them claiming to have lost a total of Rs 579 crore.

Hiten Venegaonkar, who has been appointed as the special public prosecutor, said, “EOW’s investigation indicates that the accused person has duped thousands of people, and the fraud amount involved in the matter is likely to go over Rs 1,000 crore.”

Promising monthly returns of 1.5 to 1.8 per cent on investments, Dalal allegedly ran a Ponzi scheme since 2010. He told clients that he invested the money in risk-free markets, including commodities. He had regularly been giving promised interests to investors for the past 14 years, until February 2024.

After defaulting on payouts between March 10 and 12, the Oshiwara-based Dalal suddenly vanished on March 14, causing panic among hundreds of investors who thronged to his house and later the Oshiwara police station. EOW officials arrested him from a hotel in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, 12 days after he fled from Mumbai.

“Besides cheating scores of investors in India, he also allegedly duped investors from the UK, US, Australia, China and the UAE,” an investor alleged.

The police are now trying to find out where exactly he diverted the cheated money. Investigators also trying to find out properties in Dalal’s name and in his family members’ names.