Court orders repayment of deposits in 1,300-cr scam

NASHIK: The district and sessions court on Tuesday issued orders of repayment of money to the depositors in the alleged Rs 1,300-crore scam involving Maitreyi Plotters and Realtors Pvt Ltd, in which around 20 lakh people across the country were duped.Public prosecutor Pankaj Chandorkar said this was the first time in the state wherein the money duped in a collective investment scam would be repaid to the depositors. He added that the court also issued orders repayment to the investors who have not complained to police, but have been duped. The court approved the interim bail to the two accused in the case.Varsha Satpalkar and co-accused Janardan Arvind Parulikar were arrested in February here earlier this year for allegedly duping investors of crores. Complaints have been pouring since then, after which 14, 000 investors approached police and reported loss of money to the tune of Rs 32 crore. Commissioner of police S Jaganathan said the accused had in April pledged to transfer the money into escrow account to repay the money of some investors by transferring liquid assets. An escrow account is a temporary pass through account held by a third party during the process of a transaction between two parties. Various investors were allegedly duped through 20 bank accounts of the two companies. "The case was investigated considering the punishment to the offenders and returning the money to investors. A sum of Rs 6.35 crore has been deposited in the escrow account and more money would be deposited in coming days," Jaganathan said. He adding that another uniqueness of the case was the money being repaid to the investors within six months after the case was registered with police. Jaganathan said 125 investors have been shortlisted, who will be repaid a sum of Rs 17 lakh in the first stage. "The repayment of money is likely to begin by next week. A committee has been formed which would involve representative of company, tehsildar, depositors and investigating officer who will scrutinise the details of investors and make electronic transactions from escrow account to investors personal bank account," he added. The commissioner said in further stages, money would be repaid according to the maturity dates of cheques which were bounced. "The depositors who had not complained with police will have to come forward with valid proof of receipts and cheques to claim the duped amounts. All the money would be returned as per the promise made by the company, which would include the interest as the invested money has been utilised by the firm," he added.