Mumbai: Court denies bail to cricketer Hardik Pandya's stepbrother in cheating case

A Mumbai court has denied bail to cricketers Hardik and Kunal Pandyas stepbrother arrested for allegedly cheating his siblings in polymer business saying that it was a serious economic offence and the amount involved in the matter was hugeThe Economic Offences Wing EOW of the Mumbai police arrested 37yearold Vaibhav Pandya in April on the charges of criminal breach of trust criminal intimidation criminal conspiracy forgery and other relevant sectionsAdditional chief metropolitan magistrate S B Shinde rejected the bail plea of Vaibhav Pandya on May 10 The detailed order was made available on WednesdayHe has been accused of cheating cricketers to the tune of more than Rs 4 crorePolice told the court that the cricketer brothers along with their stepbrother set up a partnershipbased firm in Mumbai and started polymer business in 2021According to the terms of their partnership business the siblings invested 40 per cent capital each while Vaibhav invested 20 per cent It was decided that Pandya would handle daily operations of the business and the profits were distributed in the same ratio police saidVaibhav then set up another firm dealing in the same business without informing the cricketers and started the business With this he violated the partnership agreementDue to the new company the profits of the original partnership firm came down and caused a loss to the company During this period he increased his own profits by 20 to 33 per cent by forging the signature of Hardik Pandya and his brotherAdditionally it was submitted before the court that Rs 72 lakh each were transferred to the account of the accused on two occasions which in itself shows that Vaibhav cheated his stepbrothersVaibhav however in his bail application claimed that supplementary agreement wrongly mentions that his share was 3333 per cent instead of 20 percentHe further submits that the cricketers and their family members were using the credit card of the accused so that amount has been transferred to his account against that There is no fraud or cheating committed by him Vaibhav submittedVaibhav further submitted that the informant Hardik Pandya and the accused entered into business agreement with one Bhanushali and responsibility in respect of new business was given to BhanushaliThe accused claimed that Bhanushali did not perform his part and he has not benefited at all from the transaction of the new entityThe court after considering the submissions of all the parties said that from the bank transactions it appears that on two occasions an amount of Rs 72 lakh each was transferred to the account of the accusedThe purpose for the transfer of the amount cannot be inferred unless there is investigation to that effect Amount involved in the matter is huge It is a serious economic offence it saidConsidering the Supreme Courts order bail cannot be granted to the accused at this stage as investigation in the matter is at the very initial stage the magistrate saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever