QNET scam: Billiards champ, 3 others in custody till Oct 13
MUMBAI: The Special Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act (MPID) court on Friday remanded former world billiards champion Michael Ferreira and three others, accused in QNET scam, in police custody till October 13.
As the deadline given by the SC ended on Thursday, four of the accused, including Ferreira, Malcolm Desai — a major shareholder of Vihaan, Srinivas Rao and Magaral Balaji, directors of Vihaan Direct Selling (India) Pvt Ltd, surrendered before the court. “The four have surrendered and we obtained their custody. One more accused — Suresh Thimiri, director of Transview Enterprises India Pvt Ltd ,failed to surrender before the court on time. We have now obtained a non-bailable warrant against him,” said special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharath.
Gharath contended the accused had submitted false bank statements and their illegal activities still continue even as the agency is investigating the case. Defence lawyers, including senior advocates Amit Desai, Abad Ponda and Sandeep Karnik, argued for bail, but the court rejected their contention and remanded all four in police custody for further investigation.
Last week, the SC had refused to provide relief to the accused after they filed an anticipatory bail plea. The accused also moved the Bombay HC to quash the complaint, but it asked them to surrender. Ferreira and his associates were directors of Vihaan Direct Selling India (Pvt) Ltd, which was operating the illegal money circulation scheme under the name QNET — previously known as Questnet in India. Nearly 5 lakh investors from across India were cheated.
QNET has been accused of using the banned binary pyramid business model for their multilevel marketing schemes to lure investors.