Mira Bhayandar: In a significant development in the Torres Jewellery Investment Scam, the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police have managed to freeze Rs 9.51 crore which was parked by the management of the jewellery firm in two bank accounts. While one bank account had Rs 1.77 crore, the other had a balance of Rs 7.74 crore.

“So far 76 people who have lost around Rs 1.7 crore to the evil designs of the scammers have come forward to register their complaints at the Navghar police station in Bhayandar. Funds amounting Rs 9.51 crore which were parked in two bank accounts of the firm have been freezed.” informed DCP (Zone I)- Prakash Gaikwad who has appealed to other investors to come forward and register their complaints.

According to the FIR registered at the Navghar police station four people including – Sarvesh Ashok Surve, Victoria Kowalenko, Olena Stoen (both Ukrainian Nationals) and Imran Javed have been booked under the relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) and provisions of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (In Financial Establishments) Act, 1999.

However, former CEO of the firm Tausif Riyaz has claimed that he and Surve were actually the whistle-blowers who reportedly flagged the suspected fraud to relevant agencies and also sent a letter to the prime minister. The scam is expected to run into 1,000 crore.

The firm- Torres which boasted of being one of the largest jewellery houses in India was headquartered in Dadar having a chain of grand showrooms housed in rented spaces in areas including- Grant Road, Navi-Mumbai, Kalyan and Mira Road.

To the shock of investors in Mira Road, the establishment which was operational till Sunday (5, January) never opened on Monday. People thronged the showroom in Mira Road after learning that they had been scammed. All other branches and the headquarters in Dadar had simultaneously closed down, leaving the investors in lurch.

As per their modus-operandi, the scamsters lured investors by floating a fake scheme envisaging purchase of moissanite stones and gems with an assured 11 percent weekly cashback on the purchase value for the next one year (52 weeks).

A person investing Rs 1 lakh was assured Rs 11,000 a weekly cash back for next 52 weeks which translated into a whopping 400 percent profit amounting Rs 5.72 lakh in a year.

Mumbai: The Mumbai Crime Branch has made startling revelations in the chargesheet filed in the special MCOCA court regarding the high-profile murder of NCP leader Baba Siddique. According to the chargesheet, the ₹17 lakh contract killing was majorly funded from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, with the Bishnoi gang playing a crucial role.

Details Revealed

Crime Branch sources revealed that the money trail investigation pointed to Anmol Bishnoi and Shubham Lonkar, who orchestrated the funding through accounts opened at Karnataka Bank’s Anand branch in Gujarat under the name of accused Salman Vohra. Lonkar was tasked with handling deposits into this account, while sleeper cells of the Bishnoi gang in Uttar Pradesh transferred funds using Cash Deposit Machines (CDM) into different accounts linked to the conspirators.

Approximately 60-70% of the funding came from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and no evidence of foreign funding has been discovered so far. However, a portion of the funds reportedly reached the accused via hawala networks.

While the Maharashtra funding trail has been traced, investigators are still piecing together the financial connections from Uttar Pradesh.

The chargesheet also details the meticulous planning and surveillance carried out by the shooters. According to shooter Shiv Kumar Gautam, after two months of reconnaissance, frustration was building as they failed to find the right moment to attack. The final opportunity came on October 12, and the assassination would have been abandoned had it not materialized that day.

The chargesheet states that the shooters anticipated a police chase post-shooting. To evade capture, they purchased a pepper spray worth ₹13,000, which they kept handy. Evidence gathered by the Crime Branch supports the claim that Gautam fired at Baba Siddique, while Gurmel Singh used the spray on pursuing police officers. The planning, weapons procurement, and use of unconventional tactics like pepper spray demonstrate the sophisticated strategy behind the murder.

This chilling case continues to unfold as police pursue additional leads in the money trail and remaining accomplices linked to the Bishnoi gang.

Kolkata, Jan 9: The trial process in the ghastly rape and murder of a woman doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata in August last year has almost come to the closing stage as the counsel of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will start presenting final arguments at a special court here from Thursday.

The process of final argument by the civic volunteer Sanjay Roy, the sole prime accused in the crime, was completed on Wednesday.

After the CBI counsel completes its final argument, the same will be presented by the counsel of the victim’s parents.

Sources said that after the final arguments by the counsels of both CBI and the victim’s parents are over, the counsel of the accused will get a chance to briefly counter the contents of the final argument by CBI’s counsel.

After the entire process is over, the judge of the special court will ask the counsels of the three parties to give their final statements, following which the trial process will be over. Thereafter the process of first the conviction and then the pronouncement of sentence will follow.

Since the entire trial process is held in-camera within the closed doors of the courtroom there is no scope to know or report on the details of the arguments and counter-arguments during the process.

Barring the parties concerned and their counsels, no other person, including the media, is allowed to be present in the courtroom during the entire trial process.

The CBI had so far submitted just one charge sheet in the case identifying Sanjay Roy as the “sole prime accused” in the case. During the course of interrogation, the CBI sleuths arrested the former and controversial principal of R.G. Kar Sandip Ghosh and the former SHO of Tala Police Station Abhijit Mondal on charges of tampering with the evidence. However, both were recently granted “default bail” by the special court because the CBI failed to file a supplementary charge sheet against them within 90 days from the date of their arrests.