The Economic Offences Cell of Goa Police will write to the special court for Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) and Pune Police to seek custody of two of the four top officials of ‘Evolve Consultancy’, an illegal investment firm, accused of duping over 114 depositors to the tune of Rs 7.78 crore in Goa between August 2012 and 2016.
Speaking to The Goan, Deputy Superintendent of Polcie (EOC) Ezilda D’Souza stated, “Accused Amol Shah and Ajay Prabhudessai were arrested by the economic offences wing of Pune Police earlier this week. We will now write to the special court and Pune Police to secure custody of the two accused to investigate the offence booked in Goa.”
The Economic Offences Cell of Goa Police has booked Rajesh Kamble, Divya Kamble, Shah and Prabhudessai of 'Evolve Consultancy' under Section 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and under protection of interest of depositors Act.
The four accused ran an unregistered investment firm headquartered in Pune with an office in Margao.
The firm allegedly duped people by promising them returns of five to eight per cent per month, or 60 to 96 per cent per annum.
The firm was established by the Kamble couple and was since managed by Prabhudessai, Shah and Vidhya. The Kambles have allegedly bought numerous properties in Maharashtra in Vidhya’s name. Pune Police is presently probing their assets including their various bank accounts.
Meanwhile, Pune Police has issued a lookout notice at all exit points, especially the airports, for the main conspirator, Rajesh, who has been based out of India, allegedly in Cyprus, since February 2016.
The special court for MPID, in the last week, rejected the anticipatory bail application of Vidhya, Shah and Prabhudessai in connection with an alleged fraud of Rs 10.45 crore in Pune by the investment firm headquartered in Kondhwa area of Pune. Between 2009 and 2016, the firm collected around Rs eight crore from about 250 depositors in Pune.
Similar, an offence has also been identified by the Mumbai Police in their jurisdiction and initial investigations are in progress.
