The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) recently arrested Bhavesh Shah, a businessman from Malad, in a cheating case that has been ongoing for five years. The case involves the fraudulent transfer of ₹36 crore that belonged to mathadi workers (laborers) and was kept in fixed deposits at a nationalized bank. The main person behind the fraud was Nikhil Roy, a bank manager, who transferred the money to his associates.
Nikhil Roy, who was the manager of the bank’s Mazgaon branch, had been arrested earlier by the EOW. After spending three years in jail, Roy was recently granted bail by the Supreme Court, according to an EOW officer.
The case began in 2019 when Balraj Deshmukh, the chairman of Iron and Steel Kamgar Kalyan Mandal (a union of mathadi workers), filed a complaint with the EOW. In May 2018, Nikhil Roy had approached the Mandal and offered them unusually high interest rates on their fixed deposits to gain their trust. Using this offer as bait, Roy transferred ₹36 crore out of the ₹45 crore that the Mandal had saved into 14 different bank accounts.
Bhavesh Shah, who was involved in the scheme, set up a fake board in Surat under the name Iron and Steel Kamgar Kalyan Mandal, along with two other directors, without revealing that he was behind it. Shah then opened a bank account for this fake board, and ₹14 crore was transferred into it.
When the bank noticed suspicious transactions, they started looking into it. Before the investigation could begin, it is said that Bhavesh Shah withdrew ₹2.5 crore and gave it to Nikhil Roy, the bank manager. In addition, Shah is also accused of withdrawing ₹5 crore and using it to buy 9 kilograms of gold from a bullion dealer.
During the investigation, EOW officers confirmed that the bullion dealer verified that Bhavesh Shah had indeed purchased the 9 kilograms of gold.
It was also discovered that some of the stolen money was transferred to the account of a company called Shivam Fashion Pvt Ltd. The owner of this company, Diwakar Jha, is also under investigation by the EOW. So far, the police have arrested 12 people in connection with this case.
Bhavesh Shah, who was the twelfth person to be arrested, was taken into custody from his residence in Malad. The court has ordered him to remain in police custody for 14 days for further questioning.
