Two Sakinaka firm directors arrested for Rs 32 crore fraud
Directors of Quirky Technology were arrested after a ponzi scheme run by the firm was exposed. The accused ran a platform through which they solicited investment and offered returns of up to 10 per cent every month.
Sumail Khan and Sumit Sharma have been arrested, while Rahul Saksena (right) is absconding.
Two directors of a private firm in Sakinaka were arrested on Friday, on charges of duping nearly 1,200 people of at least Rs 32 crore.
The arrests followed after a group of irate men barged into the office of Quirky Technology at Sagar Plaza in Sakinaka and searched for the officials of the top management on August 29, demanding their money. It was then that the ponzi scheme that Quirky Technology was allegedly operating was exposed, as the firm’s executives panicked and made phone calls to the police to save them from angry investors.
Over a week after the Sakinaka police station responded to that call and recorded statements of the investors, on Friday, it arrested Sumit Sharma (30) and Sumail Khan (34), the firm’s directors, and booked them under the Maharashtra Protection of Interests of Depositors Act. The police have also booked Rahul Saksena, the firm’s Chief Executive Officer and alleged brains behind the scheme. Saksena is absconding, the police said.
The three men are accused of cheating over 1,200 investors of at least Rs 32 crore since March 2017.
The police have accused the men of running a platform P2P Easy, through which they solicited investment and offered returns of up to 10 per cent every month. Quirky Technology runs as a Peer-to-Peer lending platform allowing individuals and institutions to lend money to borrowers of their choice. It allows both lenders and borrowers to sign up on its website and carry out what it claims are hassle-free transactions.
“The accused claimed that they invest the money in real estate and banks,” said N D Reddy, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone X.
As many as 430 people from Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, who invested amounts ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15 lakh each, submitted written complaints to the police, claiming that they had been cheated by the firms, which had branches in Sakinaka, Marol and Vashi, the police said.
Rohit Shroff, a 32-year-old general manager at a leading software firm and a Wadala resident, claimed to have lost Rs 4.7 lakh since January. “I got to know of this firm through a friend and invested Rs 2 lakh of my savings in January. After receiving returns every month until April, I invested more money. But since July, the firm stopped issuing returns,” he said.
Like other investors, Shroff was given a lender’s agreement by the firm and was issued two post-dated cheques in July, both of which bounced, he claimed.
By then, he had come in contact with other investors with similar stories. “I have friends who lost investments of Rs 7 lakh and Rs 15 lakh. We have formed a WhatsApp group with 250 investors and decided to meet Saksena on August 29,” Shroff added.
So far, the police have collated claims filed by investors who approached them, froze Quirky Technology’s bank accounts, seized its computers and began tabulating its assets.
“The accused stopped returning deposits of the investors from April. So far, it amounts to Rs 32 crore but as more investors are filing complaints, we expect the amount to rise to between Rs 50 and 100 crore,” Reddy said. He added that the firm did not have clearance from the Reserve Bank of India to carry out its activities. The police are also investigating bank accounts of 1,400 individuals to whom the accused allegedly transferred money online.
He added that several employees of Quirky Technology were also among its investors. The employees, the police said consisted mainly of freshers hired through online job portals. “They were paying new MBA graduates Rs 1 lakh a month and doubling their salaries if they brought in more investors. They also paid their receptionist Rs 50,000 a month,” he said.
Khan and Sharma, the police claimed, studied only till class 11 and class 12 respectively. They were picked up from their home in Gilbert Hill, Andheri West, and Behrambaug, Jogeshwari West.
Hitesh Jaiswal, another cheated investor, claimed that the arrested duo spoke in very polished English and had the body language befitting top business executives.
The police said the top management also provided a lot of perks to its employees. “They held parties for the staff at top hotels and themselves roamed around in a rented Rolls Royce car and had also hired bouncers,” Reddy said. The police suspect that the accused spent most of the investors’ money by April and were thus unable to pay them back. “Until now, the accused have returned Rs 5 crore to investors,” said Reddy.
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MUMBAI: The CEO and the vice president of an investment firm have been arrested for allegedly cheating several people of over Rs 27 crore, police said on Saturday.
The firm convinced people to invest in its schemes after promising them a monthly interest of 10%, police added.
Sumit Kailash Sharma alias Jahan Khan (30) and Sumail Khan alias Sameer (34) of investment firm Quirky Technology were arrested by Saki Naka police on Friday while a hunt was on for Rahul Saxena who they claimed was the mastermind of the racket.
Sharma is the vice president and Khan is the chief executive officer of the firm, police said.
"The company had promised investors 10% interest every month starting March last year. This attracted hundreds of investors, some of whom got this interest payout till July this year," an official said.
However, the interest payments stopped abruptly and queries by investors went unanswered, following which some of them approached police, he said.
"Investigations have revealed that between March last year and July 2018, the accused opened 14,083 bank accounts in the name of 3,620 investors and transacted Rs 27.50 crore online," the official said.
"The office of the company has been sealed and six bank accounts belonging to the company and its partners have been frozen," said Navinchandra Reddy, deputy commissioner of police, Zone X.
A total of 488 investors have approached police and a sum of Rs 15 crore is yet to be recovered from the accused, an official said.
He added that a case under relevant sections of the IPC and Maharashtra Protection of Interests of Depositors had been registered and further probe was underway.
The firm convinced people to invest in its schemes after promising them a monthly interest of 10%, police added.
Sumit Kailash Sharma alias Jahan Khan (30) and Sumail Khan alias Sameer (34) of investment firm Quirky Technology were arrested by Saki Naka police on Friday while a hunt was on for Rahul Saxena who they claimed was the mastermind of the racket.
Sharma is the vice president and Khan is the chief executive officer of the firm, police said.
"The company had promised investors 10% interest every month starting March last year. This attracted hundreds of investors, some of whom got this interest payout till July this year," an official said.
However, the interest payments stopped abruptly and queries by investors went unanswered, following which some of them approached police, he said.
"Investigations have revealed that between March last year and July 2018, the accused opened 14,083 bank accounts in the name of 3,620 investors and transacted Rs 27.50 crore online," the official said.
"The office of the company has been sealed and six bank accounts belonging to the company and its partners have been frozen," said Navinchandra Reddy, deputy commissioner of police, Zone X.
A total of 488 investors have approached police and a sum of Rs 15 crore is yet to be recovered from the accused, an official said.
He added that a case under relevant sections of the IPC and Maharashtra Protection of Interests of Depositors had been registered and further probe was underway.
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