Rs 1 lakh fine for cheating investors

The accused have been booked under charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy.

“The petition (for quashing of FIR) is dismissed imposing costs in sum of Rs 1 lakh,to be deposited with the Welfare Fund established by the Delhi Police and each petitioner is directed to contribute equally to the same. If not deposited within a month from today,I direct that the same shall be recovered by such appropriate coercive process by the Investigating Officer,” the court said.

The Bench dismissed the petition after noting that a compromise could not help the accused escape the criminal liability,as the records revealed the total number of investors as more than 4,200.

“The investigation would reveal that most of the investors were aged,lonely and retired persons and were small investors… merely because 30 investors are listed as witnesses by the prosecution,apart from other official witnesses,does not mean that only said 30 persons had invested money in the companies floated by the petitioners,” the court said.

Amit Chaturvedi,Sanjay Chaturvedi,Sumit Chaturvedi and their father H V Chaturvedi had moved the court,seeking to get the 2004-FIR against them quashed. The accused had reportedly floated four companies and collected around Rs 7 crore from more than 4,200 investors,but later duped them.

The four were allegedly also involved in a Rs 30-crore bank fraud,where they cheated 6 banks.