Bollywood Actor Defrauded of Rs.1.31 Crore in Fake Investment Scheme: 7 Arrested
Bollywood Actor Defrauded of Rs.1.31 Crore in Fake Investment Scheme: 7 Arrested
On Sunday, law enforcement authorities registered cases against seven individuals for allegedly defrauding Bollywood actor Deepu Sharma and several other investors by enticing them to invest in a fraudulent company with promises of doubling their profits. Sharma reported that he was swindled out of ₹1.31 crore, and he asserted that the suspects also deceived numerous other investors, accumulating losses amounting to ₹2.64 crore.
Authorities reported that the 51-year-old actor became acquainted with the suspect in 2017 through a family member. Priti Sonawadekar, a resident of Mira Road, along with her associates, presented themselves as representatives of KBC Agro Pvt Ltd. They convinced her to invest a modest sum in the company’s shares, promising that she would receive double her investment within a span of 10 months.
Sharma made a modest investment that quickly doubled within 10 months. Believing in the company’s reliability, she decided to invest ₹1.31 crore in 2018. She was also provided with several documents that were claimed to be the company’s share certificates.
“The documents that they gave me were fake receipts of the investment and later I got to know that the company was also fake. The accused told me they had an office at Mira Road, but that they closed it down,” says the actor.
She didn’t receive any promised profits for almost 10 months. When Sharma inquired about the missing funds, the accused evaded her questions with excuses about the company facing financial losses.
Sharma reached out to the other investors in the company and discovered that they also had not received the promised funds. Following this revelation, Sharma requested the accused to refund her initial investment, but the accused then started to completely disregard her calls.
“Based on Sharma’s complaint, we conducted an initial investigation and found out that the accused were absconding. We lodged an FIR on Sunday. We have launched a manhunt for the accused and have alerted the crime branch to trace them too,” says a police officer from Malad Police station.
