Mumbai Crime: 60 people in Mulund lose Rs 1.5 crore to quick-buck schemes

At least 60 residents of Mulund Colony could not resist the lure of easy money and ended up losing about Rs 15 crore While the police have booked four persons for cheating the victims including househelps auto drivers tailors and people with modest incomes with schemes promising handsome profits the extent of the scam is believed to be much biggerVictim Archana Shelar had put Rs 65 lakh in the schemes floated by the accusedThe cops began their investigation on Thursday following a complaint by Ashok Ingole a contractor who said locals Avinash Salve and Bapu Zambre had told him about starting a lsquoVijeta Lucky Drawrsquo in their neighbourhood in September 2017The lottery included the participation of 130 people each contributing Rs 1000 They said the lucky draw would run for 30 months and one person would get Rs 30000 every month At the end of 30 months each of the remaining 100 people were to get Rs 33000 Within a month Salve and Zambre launched another scheme that assured the doubling of money in a years timeAshok Ingole who went to the police on February 25 prompting the alleged fraudsters to flee PicsRajesh GuptaldquoAs the lucky draw became a hit in the neighbourhood I trusted them and invested Rs 90000 and they returned Rs 180 lakh So from November 2018 to February 2019 I invested Rs 363 lakhrdquo Ingole told midday ldquoI had borrowed money from my friends and relatives and assured them I would give a good profit for the samerdquoMeanwhile Salve and Zambre brought Harshad Parad and Pradeep Upadhyay on board and started a company named lsquoMSOI Online Services Pvt Ltdrsquo which claimed to be dealing in electronic goods The company was open for investment promising 10fold returns in 6 months Ingole invested Rs 77500 in it He and a few others got returns till April 2019 until their dreams started to crumbleAccused Pradeep UpadhyaySalve and Zambre kept giving excuses for not being able to pay up Then they bought more time citing the COVID pandemic They fled the area after Ingole approached the cops on Thursday prompting scores of victims to make a beeline to the police station Archana Shelar a widow had invested her lifes savings of Rs 65 lakh in the schemes ldquoInitially I was getting returns but suddenly the money stopped I had mortgaged my gold ornaments and borrowed money on interest but now everything has gone she saidReena Gupta lost Rs 2 lakh that she had saved for her future while Ruby Khan who does tailoring work in the locality was duped of Rs 85000 ldquoSixty investors have come forward so far claiming fraud of Rs 159 crore by 4 accused The invested amount by the individuals ranges from Rs 8000 to Rs 36 lakhrdquo said an officer from Mulund police stationRajendra Patil president of local organisation Janseva Paryavaran Rakshak said he had been trying to persuade the investors to call the police since April 2019 ldquoThe number of victims can go beyond 60 as more are yet to record their statements Cops have to act fast to nab these culprits else crores of rupees will be lost foreverrdquo he saidThe police said Zambre was working for one Harun Sheikh who was booked by Bhandup cops in 2020 for defrauding hundreds of residents of R10 crore Salve earlier was as a driver while Parad worked as an acrylic board maker The accused have been booked under the IPC and the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors In Financial Establishments act 1999