Latest news with #MPID
Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Properties of 18 accused to be auctioned in Vasai-based Jaimuni Cooperative Patpedhi Ltd's Rs 34-crore loan scam
Mumbai: The competent authority under the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act will auction flats, plots, commercial units of 18 persons accused in a Rs 34-crore scam where Vasai-based Jaimuni Cooperative Patpedhi Ltd failed to return deposits collected from the public. The money generated through auction will be used to repay the investors. The scam involved fraudulent loan disbursal to purchase flats that were already mortgaged, with forged documents and collusion between bank officials and builders. Accordingly an FIR was filed at Arnala police station in Oct 2018 for cheating, criminal breach of trust and forgery. Later, the probe was handed over to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) as the defrauded amount was around Rs 34 crore. A senior EOW officer said the process of filing the FIR, arresting the accused, and investigating the case is complete and the properties of the accused have also been identified and are now officially with govt. Under Sections 4(1) and 5(1) of the MPID Act 1999, govt has the powers to seize and auction properties of the accused who have defrauded depositors. Shekhar Ghadge, the sub-divisional officer who has been appointed as the competent authority by state govt, said: "Our first step is to approach the MPID court and further process these properties after which they will be ready for auction." After the auction, the process of distribution of funds among investors shall begin, he added. Satyawan Patil, former director of Jaimuni Cooperative Patpedhi Ltd, said: "This loan scam put depositors' hard-earned money at risk. The biggest loss caused by this scam is that it hampered the reputation of the credit society. I see that justice is being served and on behalf of my colleagues... I welcome this development. This will boost the trust of depositors in the law, which, in turn, is advantageous for the credit society's future. "
Hindustan Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Home department goes after credit society directors to recover defrauded funds
Mumbai: The state home department has ordered the attachment of properties of 18 persons accused in a ₹33.95-crore scam in Jaimuni Cooperative Patpedhi Limited, a Vasai-based credit society. Apartments, land parcels and commercial properties owned by the accused – including developers, businessmen and directors and office-bearers of the credit society – will be auctioned to recover the deposits of account holders in the credit society, as per the notification issued by the home department last week. The notification was issued under sections 4(1) and 5(1) of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act, 1999, which authorise the government to recover the amount defrauded from depositors by selling properties of the accused including directors and employees of financial institutions. The notification was issued after the economic offences wing of the Mira-Bhayandar Vasai-Virar police and the Palghar collector submitted reports on properties of the accused to the home department. The reports were submitted following directions from the special MPID court in Palghar which is hearing the case. Properties that will be attached include 17 flats and two houses of Jaywant Naik, the main accused; 6.11 acres of land belonging to developer Avinash Dhole; and an apartment owned by businessman Mintu Shah. The list also includes residential apartments of the credit society's former chief executive officer Rajesh Rawal; former chairman Vasant Naik and his son Swapnil Naik; deputy chairman Nitin Patil; directors Krishna Naik, Kumar Naik, Pratibha Naik, Surendra Raut, Vasant Joshi, Hemlata Naik, Manohar Patil and Vijay Baswant; and employee Manisha Mhatre. The properties will be attached and auctioned by the sub-divisional officer of Palghar, who has been appointed as competent authority in the case, said a senior official from the home department. 'The valuation of the properties has been done by the Collector's office,' the official said. The money recovered from the auction will be distributed among 408 depositors who cumulatively lost ₹33.95 crore, in keeping with their investments, the official noted. 'The home department is also planning to amend the MPID Act to hike the penalty and imprisonment for the accused from the existing ₹1 lakh fine and/ or six years of imprisonment,' he said. The scam came to light in June 2018 after depositors filed complaints regarding Jaimuni Cooperative Patpedhi Limited not returning their deposits. The credit society's financial troubles began after some directors approved loans to purchase 159 flats in buildings owned by Avinash Dhole and other builders. While many of the flats had already been mortgaged by their original buyers, fresh loans were advanced in the name of local vegetable vendors via collusion between Dhole, Jaywant Naik and Mintu Shah, who produced forged documents, and Vasant Naik, Nitin Patil and Rajesh Rawal, who approved the loans. Rajesh Naik, director of the reconstituted board of Jaimuni Cooperative Patpedhi Limited, said some former directors of the society were directly involved in the scam while others were guilty of omission of duty and did not secure any financial benefits. 'Our management analysed 3,800 transactions to establish the money trail which helped the investigating agency frame charges,' said Naik. The reconstituted credit society has been allotted A grade in its audit.
Time of India
09-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Court allows sale of seized assets in Torres case
Mumbai: A special MPID court recently allowed the sale of seized gold, silver, and moissanite stones from Platinum Hern Pvt Ltd and others in the Rs 142-crore Torres Jewellers Ponzi scheme case. The proceeds from the sale are to be deposited in a dedicated bank account opened for investigations. The order was passed by the court in response to an application filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Mumbai. The case stems from a complaint lodged by Pradeepkumar Vaishya, a vegetable seller from Khar West. According to the EOW's plea, during ongoing investigations, substantial quantities of gold, silver, and moissanite stones were seized from the showrooms of the accused company. The EOW requested the court's permission to sell these valuable assets and deposit the funds in the State Bank of India's Mandvi branch. Judge NP Mehta's order dictates that a valuation report for both metals and moissanite stones must be obtained, and the items are to be sold according to their stated value in the report. The joint commissioner of police, EOW, Mumbai, has been tasked with overseeing the sale and providing sanction as per rules, with a report of compliance to be submitted. –Rebecca Samervel
Time of India
31-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Court: Property buyers can't be added as accused in investment fraud case
Mumbai: A special MPID court recently ruled against adding as accused two persons who purchased a property for Rs 2.6 crore from two accused in an investment fraud case involving Cosmo Investment and Athena Investment. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The court held that those whose involvement is not direct in managing the fraudulent financial establishments cannot be added as accused. "Even if the submission that respondent numbers 10 and 11 (purchasers) acted as agents of respondent numbers 1-7 (accused), they cannot be added as accused. Respondent numbers 10 and 11 are not directors of the firms. They are not persons responsible for the business or management of the business. The role of respondent numbers 10 and 11 is only that they paid Rs 2.60 crore out of the consideration amount to 34 investors on the instruction of respondent numbers 1 and 3. Thus, even if they are considered as agents, they cannot be added as accused," Judge N G Shukla said. The plea was filed by one of the investors, Arvind Solanki (67), against the existing accused in the fraud case—Juhu residents Amit Masalia, Prakash Masalia, Dina Masalia, Payal Masalia and Mayank Doshi, Cosmo Investment and Athena Investment, as well as the property purchasers Jitendra Shah and Kirti Shah. Solanki claimed the transaction was fraudulent. Amit, Prakash, Dina, Payal and Doshi were involved in the two firms. They are accused of defrauding 42 investors by failing to return substantial investments along with promised lumpsum benefits and interest. The victims invested around Rs 22.37 crore. A case under the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act was filed in 2018. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Names of 15 depositors and their investments were revealed after the chargesheet was filed. During their anticipatory bail proceedings, the accused returned the invested amount to the original complainant and her relatives, leading to the grant of their bail. At that time, a property previously attached by the investigating officer was also released. This property is an office space in Andheri West. Shortly after, Amit and Prakash sold it for Rs 2.75 crore. After an initial payment of Rs 15 lakh, the remaining Rs 2.6 crore was paid directly to 34 investors, victims of the fraud. The advocate representing Solanki argued this property sale was a "mala fide transfer" aimed at circumventing asset attachment under the Act. It was contended the Shahs acted as agents for the original accused and committed fraud by selectively repaying certain investors, some of whom were not named in the original chargesheet. However, advocates representing the Shahs argued they legitimately purchased the property and fulfilled their payment obligations by settling debts with investors as instructed by original sellers.
Time of India
23-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
22 years on, woman acquitted in 52cr cheating case
Mumbai: In a 22-year-old case of cheating the public of Rs 51.7 crore by accepting deposits offering high returns, a special court acquitted a 61- -yea-old woman, saying it has not been established that she had accepted deposits or she had intention to deceive investors. The court acquitted Malad (west ) resident Bhavana Thakkar while the case against her husband Ajay Thakkar got abated. He died by suicide in Gujarat. Special Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act judge Nikhil Mehta said that it could not be established that Bhavana was promoter, partner, director, manager responsible for the management of or conducting of the business or affairs of the financial establishment. "It could not be established that depositors entrusted any money with Bhavana to be utilised by financial firms to gain profit to be used in repaying deposits with interest to investors. The court said, "There is no material to show that Bhavana had promised any specified service against said deposit with an intention of causing wrongful gain for herself and to cause wrongful loss to depositors." Ajay along with his wife and other family members had formed a financial institution in 1998 and started accepting deposits from people with a promise of higher returns of 1% to 1.5% per month. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Este suplemento pode ser o que falta para seu bem-estar completo AlwaysFit Undo Bhavana Thakkar and her husband used to issue bills of exchange as acknowledgment of having accepted deposit and also issued post dated cheques consisting of interest sum on the deposit. The firm accepted the deposits in form of cash as well as in form of cheque and in return they gave a bill and also a postdated cheque as assurance. From March 2001 onward, the financial firm stopped giving interest to depositors on their invested money. The court said that there was no evidence to show that she was a promoter or responsible for the management of Ajay's business. "She never promised them higher returns which suggest that she never made false and wrongful representation with intention to deceive investors," the court said while acquitting her. One of the witnesses relied on bank entry to show that the cheque issued in the name of Bhavana was debited from his account. "Mere filing of bank statement would not be any of support to the case of prosecution unless there is proof of record to indicate that those statement are actually issued by witness bank," the court said. There was no intention on her part to deceive depositors, which got fortified from the statement of witnesses that she never approached them for deposit, the court said.
