Mumbai: A 44-year-old Versova resident has been arrested for cheating around 500 investors of Rs 170 crore in a Ponzi scheme. The man had claimed he was a SEBI-registered agent and had assured people of investing their money in the share market, said officials of the Property Cell of the Crime Branch of Mumbai Police.The investors registered a criminal offence after he stopped paying them the profit that he had promised. He fled without repaying the principal amount to them.Deputy commissioner of police (Crime Branch) Datta Nalawade said on Saturday that the police arrested Ashish Shah from Madhya Pradesh and recovered Rs 25 lakh and 1.9 kg of gold worth Rs 1.42 crore.“An FIR of cheating had been registered against Shah at Versova police station. He came in touch with several people after the Covid pandemic and, through word of mouth publicity, claimed he was a SEBI-registered agent dealing in the share market. He promised to give 84% annual returns on investors,” said Nalawade.Shah had lured the investors between 2022 and May 2024 by telling them that he would invest their money in the share market through his company, Samaryash Traders LLP. The FIR was registered on Thursday after the complainant, along with some other investors, approached the police. “The complainant had invested around Rs 1.7 crore, while other investors who also came with him had collectively invested more than Rs 9 crore,” said an officer. Many investors are from the South Indian community,…
