Promised 50 per cent returns in 30 days, Pune man allegedly loses Rs 1 crore; eight booked

A promise to turn Rs 1 crore into Rs 15 crore in just 30 days allegedly cost a Pune man his entire investment after he was drawn into what police suspect was a meticulously planned investment fraud spanning multiple meetings fake credentials and a staged cash handover in south MumbaiThe LT Marg Police in Mumbai have registered a first information report FIR against five people named as accused and three unidentified persons for allegedly cheating a 34yearold Hinjewadi resident of Rs 1 crore in cash by luring him into investing in a purported Trade Profit FundThe complainant Mohsin Mulani a commerce graduate who is currently unemployed had previously worked with a private company in Pune while his wife is employed as a marketing head at a private firmPolice said Mulani was introduced to the investment opportunity in May by his acquaintance Adnan Inamdar who claimed that his contact Shubham Raut operated a fund that generated extraordinary returns within a month The only condition Mulani was allegedly told was that the minimum investment had to be Rs 1 croreInterested in the proposal Mulani met Raut at a sprawling shopping mall in Borivali East on May 19 During the meeting Raut allegedly claimed that an investment of Rs 1 crore would fetch Rs 15 crore within 30 days To convince the complainant he allegedly showed receipts of investments worth Rs 5 crore and Rs 30 crore claiming they belonged to other investors who had already joined the schemeRaut also introduced Mulani to his cousin Tanvesh Patil and another associate Rajendra Singh who allegedly claimed to oversee the funds Mumbai operations Singh assured Mulani over the phone that the investment would be backed by official investment and noclaim certificates making the proposal appear legitimate police saidHow the accused allegedly gained the investors confidence before taking Rs 1 croreSatisfied with the assurances Mulani discussed the proposal with his wife and friend Swapnil Kale The trio arranged Rs 1 crore with Kale contributing Rs 45 lakh and Mulani and his wife pooling the remaining Rs 55 lakhJust a day before the transaction Mulani allegedly received a welcome email from an account identifying itself as Terai Tea Company Limited acknowledging him as a business associate Raut allegedly instructed him to reply to the email which police now suspect was part of an elaborate attempt to establish credibilityOn the morning of May 25 Mulani and Inamdar drove from Pune to Mumbai carrying Rs 1 crore in cash reaching Kalbadevi Metro Station around 1030 am where they met Raut and PatilRaut informed Mulani that Rajendra Singh had travelled abroad and that another associate Prakash Kadam would now oversee the investment process Shortly afterwards Akash Dubey and three unidentified men joined the group before everyone proceeded to JSS Road in KalbadeviInside a property the accused allegedly took possession of the cash bag and began counting the money At one point one of the men even went upstairs to fetch rubber bands to bundle the cash Once the counting was complete Mulani was allegedly told to proceed to Terai Tea Companys office in BandraKurla Complex BKC where he would receive the promised investment and noclaim certificatesInitially reluctant to leave Rs 1 crore behind Mulani was allegedly reassured by Raut that the process was routine and riskfree To further gain his confidence Raut allegedly handed him a receipt acknowledging the deposit of the money and even signed a Rs 50 note telling him it could be used along with the receipt to reclaim the money if the certificates were not issuedAfter waiting in BKC investor allegedly realises he has been dupedTrusting the assurances Mulani left for BKC with Inamdar while Raut and Patil followed separatelyHowever after waiting for nearly an hour in BKC Mulani was allegedly told that neither Dubey Kadam nor Rajendra Singh could be contacted Raut then claimed he would return to Kalbadevi to check on the matter He later informed the complainant that the property they had previously visited had shut for the day but assured him that he was taking complete responsibility and would ensure the money was returned once Singh came backOver the next few days instead of refunding the money Raut allegedly continued making excuses He first claimed that Rajendra Singh was abroad and later said he had been hospitalised Police said Raut also attempted to persuade Mulani to invest more promising that a fresh investment of Rs 1 crore would immediately yield Rs 15 crore while Rs 2 crore would generate Rs 28 crore claiming that the profits could even cover the losses from the earlier investmentSuspecting that he had been cheated Mulani first approached Wadala TT Police on May 30 After a preliminary inquiry he was directed to LT Marg Police as the alleged offence had taken place within their jurisdiction He lodged a complaint there on June 9 following which an FIR was registered on FridayThe accused have been identified as Shubham Vinesh Raut Tanvesh Pradeep Patil Rajendra Singh Prakash Kadam Akash Dubey besides three unidentified persons They have been booked under Sections 3184 cheating and 612 criminal conspiracy of the BNSPolice are also verifying whether Terai Tea Company Limited had any role in the alleged investment scheme or whether its name and email ID were fraudulently used by the accused to gain the complainants confidence