Multi-crore fraud Court rejects bail plea of Goodwin owners

     Thane,Dec 20(PTI) A court here in Maharashtra has
rejected the bail application of two owners of Goodwin
Jewellers, arrested in connection with a multi-crore cheating
case involving thousands of investors.
    District and Sessions Judge (special cases) R V
Tamhanekar in his order on Saturday said the accused, A M
Sudheerkumar and A M Sunilkumar, both brothers and owners of
the fraud-hit jewellery chain originally hailing from Kerala,
did not deserve bail at this stage.
    Hence, their application was being rejected, he said.
    The duo surrendered to a Thane court on December 14
2019. They were subsequently arrested by the city police's
Economic Offences Wing which is probing the cheating case.
    The jewellery firm had shut its outlets in Thane,
Palghar, Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra a couple of
days before Diwali last year, leaving hundreds of people, who
invested in its gold and fixed deposit schemes, in the lurch.
    The two accused were booked under various IPC
sections, including 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of
trust), 34 (common intention) and also provisions of the
Maharashtra Protection of Interests of Depositors in Financial
Establishments (MPID) Act and the Banning of Unregulated
Deposit Schemes Act.
    The judge in his order said, "After perusal of the say
filed by investigating officer, it is clear that totally 11
crimes have been registered against the accused under the MPID
Act and the defrauded amount is Rs 1,76,96,83,413."
    The accused are also booked under provisions of the
IPC and the amount of cheating is Rs 13,61,78,787, he said.
    So, when such kind of huge amount is involved, unless
the interest of all investors is secured, the accused persons
cannot be released on bail, the judge said.
    Earlier, additional Public Prosecutor Vivek Kadu said
the amount and investors whom the duo cheated was very large.
Hence, they should not be released on bail, he told the court.
    It is alleged that the accused persons accepted crores
of rupees in cash and by way of cheques from various investors
and transferred the amount in 14 accounts of different banks
in the name of Goodwin Jewellers.
    The accused allegedly failed to return the amount or
gold of investors and thereby, cheated them, according to the
prosecution. PTI COR
GK GK

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)