Relief to 20 lakh Ponzi victims as court orders sale of firm’s assets

MUMBAI: In a landmark order that will bring relief to 20 lakh victims of a Ponzi scheme, a special Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositor (MPID) Act court has ordered the sale of Rs 4,000 crore worth assets of Sai Prasad group of companies, which duped the investors with promises of high returns. Police officials say if all goes well they should be able to distribute the investors’ money by the year-end.
The properties, attached by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai police, are spread across eight cities, including Gwalior, Indore, Bhopal, New Delhi, Jhansi and Pune besides Goa.This includes a bungalow in Wakad (Maharashtra), a farm house in Mulsi in Pune district and an under-construction five-star hotel in Goa. Besides, there are 40 highend cars, including BMW, Audi Q7 and Prado; nine Ducati bikes; gold jewellery worth Rs 5 crore; expensive watches; artefacts and Rs 200 crore in 300 bank accounts. Police also seized a channel run by the main accused, Balasaheb Bhapkar.
Bhapkar and his kin have given an unconditional no objection certificate (NOC) to the court for the sale of the assets.
The scam came to light in 2015, when the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) filed a complaint alleging that Bhapkar's firms had collected investments/deposits without its permission. Subsequently, the EOW registered an offence of forgery, cheating, breach of trust and under the MPID Act . Police said the company wooed investors by promising 13.5% interest or 18,000 per month for six years on an investment of Rs 1 lakh, besides the principal upon maturity. It also offered 500 sqft land in ratio of investment of Rs 12,000 as collateral securities. One lakh agents got huge kickbacks for bringing in investments. “In the initial years, the accused paid high returns to attract more investors,” said Dhananjay Kamlakar, who supervised the probe as additional commissioner of police-EOW then.
Police arrested six persons: Bhapkar, his teenage son Shashank Bhapkar, wife Vandana Bhapkar, director of the company Suresh Srivastav and vice president Sanjay Roy. Police filed two charge sheets and utilized digital forensic auditing, which established that the accused used the investors’ money to buy properties.
“The accused invested Rs 100 crore in mutual funds,” said inspector Shivaji Pawade. Investigating officer Ashok Khedkar, said, “It’s a big sigh of relief to the investors.”
As per MPID Act, once a property is attached by the home department, it appoints a competent authority for its administration. The SEBI, deputy collector and the investigating agency are involved in the sale process. The proceeds will be deposited in the account of deputy collector who, in turn, distributes the money to investors. “Had the accused been granted bail, they would not have given an NOC for sale of properties,”' said Sandeep Karnik, deputy commissioner of police (EOW).