Couple who duped nearly 400 people of ₹14cr surrenders
MUMBAI: A couple, who ran Ponzi investment schemes in Kamathipura in Nagpada, and allegedly duped nearly 400 people of ₹14 crore, surrendered themselves to the police on Tuesday. An Economic Offense Wing (EOW) officer confirmed the development to HT and said the accused, Ramchandra Chilveri, and his wife, Roopa, will be produced in court on Wednesday.
The police suspect that more victims may come forward in the coming days and that figure may reach up to 1,600, with the total amount coming up to ₹40 crore.
The couple, who operated from an office in Kamathipura, Nagpada, had last month shut their office, locked their homes and ran away.
When investors started enquiring about them, they realised the couple escaped.
“On surrendering, they said they did not escape and were very much in the city. They said they incurred huge losses recently and escaped the area fearing investors. We will produce them before the court and seek their custody to know where exactly they diverted the money collected from investors,” said another senior EOW official.
According to a recent complaint that was filed with the police, the couple used to offer a whopping 2% interest every month to the investors. “They were running different schemes, which included recurring as well as fixed-deposit schemes, offering lucrative returns, which many people fell prey to,” said an EOW officer. Some investors had deposited more ₹20 lakh with the couple. Among the victims were labourers, vendors, businessmen, sex workers, homemakers and shopkeepers. Many people employed with private companies had also invested money in the schemes. Most of the victims hailed from Telangana, the police said.
The victims have told us that the father of the accused had been running a domestic investment business and after him, his family had continued it. The business has been active for 40 years, the officer added.
The police suspect the accused was further rolling investors’ money on high interest rates to other businessmen. But to ascertain the exact money trail, the accused couple need to be interrogated, another officer said.
The couple has been arrested under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code and Maharashtra Protection of Interests of Depositors (MPID) Act.