60 cheated of Rs 10 crore with ponzy scheme in Jamnagar

RAJKOT: As many as 60 people including six retired army men lost over Rs 10 crore as they were cheated by a firm on PN Marg in Jamnagar promising high returns on investments in the stock market.
One of the victims Ranveerpratapsinh Darbar lodged a complaint against seven persons identified as Hiren Dhabba, Mahendra Dhabba, Jay Dhabba, Asha Dhabba, Hasmukh Parmar, Tausif Sheikh and Sangeeta on Wednesday.Four of the accused are owners of the firm while Parmar, Sheikh and Sangeeta used to work there as accountants, police said.
Darbar alleged that he was lured to invest money through the firm as they promised 10% returns every month on the invested money. Darbar came to know about the firm through an advertisement pamphlet in 2019 which mentioned ‘Invest in stock market and fulfil your dreams’. Darbar initially invested Rs 33 lakh and he even received interest on investment during the initial months.
Darbar then encouraged his five other friends who had retired from army to invest the money. Darbar and his friends invested Rs 3.1 crore until December last year. When they stopped receiving the interest on their investment, Darbar went to check at the office, but it was locked. Darbar even tried calling the owners, but his calls were never answered. Like Darbar and his friends, 54 other victims too came forward against the firm as they had also lost the money.
“We have registered an offence of cheating and investigating documents submitted by complainants. We will arrest the accused once we have more evidence,” said a police official.