Nagpur: According to a report in local English daily, over a dozen businessmen from Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh are under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for investing between Rs 20 and Rs 30 crore in the ponzi schemes run by fraudster Pankaj Mehadia.
These businessmen, who are mainly residents of Nagpur, Chandrapur, and Raipur, include some who are in the coal business. The information about their transactions in Mehadia’s schemes came to light during the investigation of his bank transactions. ED officials have called these investors to their Nagpur office for statements.
The report claims that the ED has asked these businessmen to prove the source of their money, suspecting black money transactions in the bogus schemes. The investment amount of each person ranged between Rs 20 crore and Rs 30 crore, made over the past five years. The investigation agency has also identified small investors who had invested Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore in the scheme. They will be called by the ED in the second phase of the investigation, according to the report.
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Saturday 23 Nov. 2024
On March 3, the ED officials raided the residences and offices of Pankaj Mehadia, Lokesh Jain, and Karthik Jain in Nagpur and Mumbai, as they are the main accused in this scam. The premises of the main beneficiaries of the scam were also searched. The total amount of investments made in Mehadia’s companies, as per the report, is close to Rs 1,000 crore.
Pankaj Mehadia had lured various businessmen across Maharashtra to invest in his companies, including Mehadia Sales Trade Corporation, Mehadia Sales Trade Corporation Pvt Ltd, M/s Nandlal D Mehadia, Lokesh Metalicks, Sadguru Enterprises, and Nand Sons Logistics Ltd. After declaring himself out of cash, Mehadia and his accomplices informed the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) that they were unable to return the investors’ money.
The investigation also revealed that Pankaj Nandlal Mehadia and others lured investors by promising 12 per cent assured profit after deducting TDS on investments made from 2004 to 2017. Throughout the period of 2005 to 2016, the accused ran the ponzi scheme with the intention of cheating and siphoning off investors’ money, giving assured returns to win over investors and lure them to invest in larger amounts in associated firms and companies, but ultimately not returning the money.
To divert the money and give transactions some legitimacy, transactions worth more than Rs 150 crore were done in bank accounts, most of which are suspected to be not backed by genuine business deals and are in the nature of accommodation entries
