Days after a scandal involving the Torres Investment Firm came to light, senior police inspectors from all police stations in the city have been directed to gather information about financial institutions and investment firms operating in their jurisdiction and to take necessary action against those involved in irregularities.
According to sources in the department, the directive was issued by Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar during a crime conference held on Thursday. The crime conference is a meeting chaired by the city police commissioner, attended by senior police officials, including the joint commissioner of police, additional commissioners of police, deputy commissioners of police, assistant commissioners of police, and senior police inspectors from each police station.
Sources said the commissioner initially expressed his displeasure, after which he issued instructions on the steps that should be taken to prevent such frauds in the future.
An officer said, “We are looking at banners, posters, and other pamphlets distributed by these financial institutions offering returns at lucrative interest rates and checking if their offices are in our jurisdiction. We have been instructed to look for the operators, conduct inquiries into their operations, and take legal action if any irregularities are found.”
The officials further added that if the irregularities of any institution in Mumbai involve an amount over Rs 10 crore, the Economic Offenses Wing will probe the matter.
Meanwhile, officials from the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) investigating the Torres investment scam revealed on Saturday that the fraudsters had rented a premises from where they operated their Dadar-based head office and paid about Rs 25 lakh in monthly rent.
“We will be questioning the owner of the property who rented it out. We will try to gather as much information as possible and understand the deposit amount they submitted to the owner,” an officer said.
Although the fraudsters are believed to have duped about 1.25 lakh people out of around Rs 1,000 crore, investigators said they have received applications from 1,500 victims who have been defrauded of around Rs 24 crore.
Officials added that while their teams have recovered cash and other valuables worth Rs 9 crore from the Dadar-based office, they have also identified 14 vehicles that the accused distributed to lure more people into their scam.
So far, the police have arrested Ukrainian national Taniya Xasatova, Russian OCI Valentina Ganesh Kumar, and director Sarvesh Surve. It is suspected that two Ukrainian masterminds fled the country in December last year.
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