Mumbai: A massive investment scam by the foreign-based Torres Jewelry company has left over 1.25 lakh investors defrauded of ₹1,000 crore. The company, which promised high returns on jewelry and diamond investments, has collapsed, with its directors shifting the blame to Indian executives. The Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) has taken over the investigation, and an FIR under the Maharashtra Protection of Depositors Act and various BNS sections has been registered.

Three individuals—Sarvesh Ashok Surve, Tanya Casatova, and Valentina Kumar—have been arrested, while the alleged masterminds, Ukrainian nationals John Carter and Victoria Kowalenko, fled the country. Lookout Circulars (LOCs) have been issued for their arrest. Torres Company launched operations in Mumbai in February 2024, opening a flagship showroom in Dadar and branches in Navi Mumbai, Kalyan, Borivali, and Mira Road. The company offered an alluring investment plan.

Investors purchased jewelry or moissanite diamonds and received official receipts. A digital account and unique customer ID were created for each investor. A weekly return of 6% was promised, amounting to triple the investment value over 52 weeks.

Sarvesh Surve, a local resident with no prior business credentials, was appointed as the director to provide a local face to the foreign venture. Surve’s digital signatures were used for all official documents, while John Carter and Victoria Kowalenko controlled operations from the shadows. Tanya Casatova, an Uzbek national, managed stores, and Valentina Kumar, a Russian citizen married to an Indian, oversaw retail operations.

Police sources revealed that Surve was unaware of the larger conspiracy, making him a convenient scapegoat. Before fulfilling the promised 52-week term, Torres stopped payments in December 2024, citing technical issues. On January 1, 2025, the company abruptly shut down its showrooms.

When irate investors gathered outside the Dadar office on January 6, Tanya and Valentina were confronted and detained by Shivaji Park police. Surve was also arrested. Preliminary investigations estimate that over 1.25 lakh investors were defrauded, based on the highest customer ID numbers issued. The total fraud amount could exceed ₹1,000 crore. Police stations in Shivaji Park, APMC (Navi Mumbai), and Mira Road witnessed long queues of investors filing complaints, with many FIRs registered in just two days.

Authorities are now coordinating with international agencies to apprehend Carter and Kowalenko. Meanwhile, the EOW has urged investors to file complaints to strengthen the case.

Mumbai, Jan 7: As more clarity emerged around HMPV amid increased surveillance across the country, India’s domestic benchmark indices closed higher on Tuesday amid positive global cues while buying was seen in metal, media, energy, commodities, PSU bank, financial service, pharma and FMCG sectors.

Sensex ended at 78,199.11, up by 234.12 points, or 0.30 per cent, and Nifty settled at 23,707.90, up by 91.85 points or 0.39 per cent.

Nifty Bank ended at 50,202.15, up by 280.15 points, or 0.56 per cent. The Nifty Midcap 100 index closed at 56,869.3 after rising 502.35 points, or 0.89 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index closed at 18,673.45 after rising 248.20 points, or 1.35 per cent.

On the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), 2,627 shares ended in green and 1,356 shares in red, whereas there was no change in 103 shares.

According to market experts, amid positive global cues indicating no major concerns regarding HMPV, the domestic market partially recovered from yesterday’s sharp sell-off but traded within a range ahead of the critical first advance estimates for India’s FY25 GDP.

“In the near term, the market is expected to remain cautious, awaiting signs of earnings recovery during the upcoming result season, while also dealing with ongoing FII selling which is driven by the strengthening dollar, rising US bond yields, and reduced expectations of further rate cuts,” they noted.

On the sectoral front, auto, IT and consumption segments were major losers.

In the Sensex pack, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, Nestle India, UltraTech Cement, L&T, Adani Ports, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, Titan, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Sun Pharma and SBI were the top gainers. Whereas Zomato, HCL Tech, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Infosys and Bajaj Finserv were the top losers.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 2,575.06 crore on January 6 and domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 5,749.65 crore on the same day.

“As the market approaches critical support and resistance levels, investors are advised to monitor price action closely and adopt a cautious stance in the coming sessions,” said experts.

Ahmedabad, Jan 7: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) Airport, managed by Adani Airport Holdings Limited (AAHL), on Tuesday reported double-digit growth in the number of passengers during the third quarter (Q3) FY25.

Over 3.5 million passengers took flights to and from the airport – over 18 per cent more than the previous year’s number of 3 million (Q3 FY24).

Aircraft traffic movements (ATMs) also saw a rise of 15 per cent with SVPI Airport managing over 27,000 ATMs during the October-December quarter.

On December 22, SVPI Airport saw 44,253 passenger movements with 324 ATMs, which is the highest for the current financial year, followed by December 13 and December 12, where the airport served 43,881 with 318 ATMS and 43,408 passengers with 325 ATMs, respectively, according to SVPI Airport, a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd.

Ahmedabad airport saw infrastructure, innovation, and destination additions including the Terminal-2 extended check-in hall, inter-terminal electric shuttle service, Wi-Fi coupon dispensers for travellers with non-Indian SIM cards, new flights to Da Nang, Guwahati, Dimapur Thiruvananthapuram, Kolhapur, and Kuwait, and additional frequencies to Kochi and Kolkata.

In December, Ahmedabad Airport was the only airport in India recognised for its exceptional commitment to energy conservation by winning a prestigious Certificate of Merit at the National Energy Conservation Awards (NECA) 2024, organised by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Power, according to the company.

It further stated that with several international airlines now managing, cargo numbers saw a significant growth of 17 per cent in Q3 over the same period in the previous financial year.

The SVPI Airport handled over 17,900 million tonnes (MT) of cargo, including over 1,850 MT of international cargo, which has seen a rise of over 300 per cent over the financial year’s Q3 numbers.

Leveraging Adani Group’s expertise in transport and logistics hubs, AAHL aims to connect India’s major cities through a strategic hub-and-spoke model.

This, coupled with a deep understanding of modern mobility needs, fuels AIAL’s vision to establish Ahmedabad Airport as the premier gateway for passenger and cargo traffic in western India.