FIR against 5 execs of Goa realty company in Rs 100cr ‘share market’ scam

Panaji: Economic offence cell (EOC) of Goa police booked five directors of a real estate company in alleged connection with a case in the ‘share market’ scam. Myron Rodrigues and his wife, Deepali Parab, have allegedly cheated people, mostly from Salcete, to the tune of over Rs 100 crore by promising lucrative returns on investments in the share market. The EOC had registered the first FIR in the case on Aug 30, 2023.

SP (crime branch) Rahul Gupta said that the directors of Idylic Goan Gateways and Developments Pvt Ltd who have been booked are Nolan Lawrence Antao (32) from Fatorda, Joaquim Rosario Pires from Fatorda, Vijay Joil (54), a native of Maharashtra, Navnik Mario Pereira (55) from Benaulim and Sushant Ghodge (53) from Pernem. He said, “Rodrigues and Parab are proprietors of DMA Designing New Worlds LLP, which was incorporated before the registrar of companies, Goa, and the said company is engaged in the real estate business.”

“Rodrigues transferred investors’ money of over Rs 3.2 crore between Nov 2022 and June 2023 from his bank account to Idylic Goan Gateways and Developments Pvt Ltd and Rs 2 crore to Prospect Realty for business purposes.”

“On Nov 21, all these directors’ names were included in the FIR after scrutiny of the financial transactions,” he said.

Counsel for directors Antao and Ghodge, Siddharth Sardesai said, “My clients state that one Rodrigues along with his wife has allegedly committed a fraud on multiple investors and a case with regards to the same is registered in Maharashtra. Rodrigues had diverted a sum of over Rs 3 crore into the bank account of my client's company which concerns itself with real estate development and such other activities, with an intention to carry on real estate business in Goa.”

“Upon being informed of the alleged crime committed by Rodrigues, my client's company transferred those funds to the account of the competent authority in Maharashtra,” Sardesai said.

The SP said that on Aug 11, 2023, the EOC received a complaint from a resident of Navelim, Salcete, against Rodrigues and his wife, both residents of Kirbhat, Nuvem.

They were accused of duping and cheating the complainant to the tune of over Rs 36 lakh under the pretext of investing his money in the share market, by offering lucrative returns, and misappropriating the complainant’s money for their own use. Gupta said that an FIR was registered in the case.

He said that on Aug 30, 2023, the EOC registered another FIR after receiving more complaints against the same accused for duping and cheating investors to the tune of over Rs 20 crore.

“We received 38 complaints from investors against Rodrigues and Parab, all amounting to over Rs 23 crore. According to the complainants, there are more than 50 investors who were duped of Rs 100 crore. Most of those who were cheated were from Salcete taluka,” Gupta said.

The SP said that the complainants said that they were investing since 2011 and did not receive their money.

“Rodrigues introduced himself to investors as a stockbroker and Parab as a financial expert, duping many people. They are not registered with SEBI or RBI for carrying out trading in securities,” Gupta said.

“A 41A notice was issued to Parab, and she has been constantly summoned to the EOC for investigation. Rodrigues is absconding and evading the process of law. Through intelligence, we learned that Rodrigues fled from India to London via Dubai on July 24, 2023. An LOC through the Bureau of Immigration and a Blue Notice through Interpol were issued against accused Rodrigues. We are making efforts to bring him to Goa. A Red Corner Notice is in process,” the SP said.

Gupta said Rodrigues gave mutual divorce to his ex-wife, Sunita Rodrigues, in 2021, and thereafter, he married Parab.

“We have frozen the bank accounts of accused Rodrigues and Parab, having a total amount of over Rs 6 lakh, a fixed deposit of over Rs 35 lakh and also two bank lockers. We have identified a total of eight properties belonging to Rodrigues, Sunita and Deepali. We have blocked their properties by sending letters to the sub registrar not to sell these properties. We have shared this information with the ED too. In total, there are seven flats and one villa, all worth Rs 3.5 crore,” the SP said.

According to the statement summary of Rodrigues’ bank account, he received over Rs 130 crore and spent over Rs 129 crore from 2009 to Aug 17, 2023.