Investment fraud: Retired Navy officer promised 0.9% daily interest, loses Rs 46 lakh

The 54-year-old man who retired from the Navy had read about an investment scheme in an advertisement in a newspaper, police said. He then went to the office of “Rainbow Business Centre” located at Dreams Mall in Bhandup that has four employees.

According to the complainant, he saw around eight other investors who had come there to find out about the scheme. There he was initially promised a return of 0.7 per cent per day on invested amount.

The accused identified himself as Karan Patel, who claimed to reinvest investors money into corporate ventures in Mumbai and Hyderabad. He claimed to use the profits to purchase vehicles for rental to companies. Patel increased the returns to 0.9 per cent per day.

The complainant initially issued a cheque for Rs 1 lakh to Patel, who paid interest for the first 4-5 weeks. Encouraged by the returns, the complainant reinvested his profits and added Rs 12 lakh more into Patel’s scheme. Over a period of time the complainant ended up paying Rs 37 lakh along with Rs 10.5 lakh he has earned from the scheme.

The 54-year-old man alleged that Patel, along with his wife Urmila and son Rudra, frequently visited his home to persuade him to invest more and appear more credible.

However, one day the complainant heard someone call Patel by another name and later found that his name was not Patel but Ramesh Sakhant.

As he began asking questions, the accused along with his “employees” fled. complainant claimed. He then approached the local Bhandup police where an FIR was registered against Ramesh Sakhant and an unidentified accused.

The police found that Sakhant earlier resided at Sakinaka but his flat was demolished by BMC as it was illegal following which he was staying at a relative’s place on rent.

An officer from Bhandup police said that they have sent teams to three locations they found for the accused but he was not found.