27,147-page chargesheet filed in Torres case: EOW invokes BUDS Act to expedite auction of seized properties to refund investors

According to police, the amount involved in the fraud, allegedly masterminded by a group of Ukrainian nationals, was around Rs 142.58 crore. The amount does not include the frauds reported in three other FIRs registered in Mira Road, Thane and Navi Mumbai. EOW investigators have recorded statements of 280 witnesses and identified whistleblower CA Abhishek Gupta as the key witness in the case. Besides him the employees working at the Torres stores have also been made witnesses in the case.

The EOW officers submitted the chargesheet before a special MPID court under sections 316(5), 317(2), 317(4), 317(5), 318(5), 61 BNS Act and 3, 4 MPID Act. “We have also added sections 21 and 23 of BUDS (Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes) Act, 2019,” an officer said.

The BUDS Act empowers police (the investigating agency) to directly execute the identification, auctioning and refunding the money to the victim investors with due permission from the court and the government.

Under MPID Act the auctioning procedure is carried out through the collector and is a lengthy process.

A senior EOW officer said that investigators have written to various agencies including the Inspector General of Registration (IGR) to identify all the properties on the arrested accused’s name.

Their properties (not of their family members) may also be attached and auctioned to recover victim investors money.

Eight Ukrainian nationals — Victoriia Kovalenko, Oleksandr Borovyk, Oleksandr Zapichenko, Oleksandra Brunkivska, Oleksandra Tredokhib, Artem Oliferchuk and Iurchenko Igor— and a Turkish national Mustafa Karakoc, along with two Indians have been mentioned as wanted accused in the case, an officer said.

After raiding multiple places of Torres company and accused persons, the EOW officials have seized properties worth Rs 32 crore and have approached court seeking permission to get the seized properties auctioned to refund money to victim investors.

EOW officials said that they took cognisance of whistleblower CA Gupta’s email and audit report.

When asked why the fraud amount was Rs 142 crore despite Gupta claiming that Rs 200 crore of investors were sent abroad via crypto-currency, an officer said that those investors who initially got their principal amount back or occurred loss of small amount, did not come forward.

Since “business operation” was done 70 per cent in cash, the investment amount could not be computed, the officer said.

Besides this, the accused company paid interest for seven months, paid rents of stores, spent money on furniture and bought jewelries and moissanite stones for luring investors.

According to EOW, the wanted accused have links with the Platinum Hern Pvt Ltd company that operated Torres jewellery brand in Mumbai since early 2024 to defraud people.

Mumbai police have already succeeded in getting an Interpol’s Blue Corner Notice issued against them.

The Ukrainian masterminds opened a company Platinum Hern Pvt Ltd in April 2023, and allegedly floated multiple schemes encouraging people to buy jewelry, mainly moissanite stones or American diamonds and offered exorbitant weekly interest or cash back, with some yielding an annual return of up to 500 per cent.

Initially, investors were lured with incentives such as iPhones, jewellery and other expensive gifts, including branded bags, cars. However, after making investors regularly invest (mostly in cash) the company suddenly stopped paying in the last month of December 2024, causing alarm among investors.

On January 6, thousands of investors from Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, and Mira Road staged protests outside Torres’ jewellery stores in Dadar, Mira Road, and APMC Navi Mumbai.

The Shivaji park police registered an FIR and later Mumbai Police’s EOW took over the investigation.

Joint commissioner of police, EOW Nishith MIshra supervised the investigation of the case and under the guidance DCP EOW Sangramsinh Nishandar Inspector Ramesh Yadav, inspector Vishal Gaikwada and others investigated the case.