Jan 13, 2010 02:47 PM
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Investors From Mumbai Trace Razzaki To A Flat At Sacred Heart Town In Wanowrie Mihir Tanksale| TNN Pune: In a major breakthrough in the City Limouzines cheating case, which witnessed several twists and turns including a protracted legal battle, the Mumbai police on Wednesday arrested a female director, Geeta Razzaki, in Pune. Even as the Economic Offences Wing(EOW) of the Mumbai police has been on the hunt for senior company officials, including its chairman S M Masood, the breakthrough came after one of the investors tracked Geeta’s flat at Sacred Heart Town in Wanowrie. The police have summoned Geeta’s husband Umer, son Amber and sister-in-law Shehla Khan for questioning at their Mumbai office on Thursday.
Thousands of investors have been duped across the country and Masood is on the run since his anticipatory bail was rejected early this month. Investigating officer Abhay Saigaonkar told TOI: “A case of cheating has already been registered against the directors of the company.
Earlier we had arrested another director, Rajesh Chaudhary, in Mumbai.” The company had collected money from the public, promising returns as high as 48 per cent. The company said it would buy vehicles in the name of the investors, which would be given out on rent. The company has asked the public to invest Rs 1.4 lakh and promised that they would get a cheque of Rs 7, 775 for 60 months. After the 60 months, an additional amount of Rs 50, 000 also had been promised to the investors. “Till August 2009, we were getting the returns. But, after that the company’s cheques started bouncing, ” said Mansingh Rajput, who invested Rs 50 lakh in the scheme.
The company had offices in different parts of the country. In Pune, the office is located near the police commissionerate. Around 3, 500 people in Pune had invested money in the scheme. But, a few months ago, the company suddenly closed its office. Rajput said, “My son Vedang Rajput, a non-residential Indian who invested Rs 1 crore, was keeping track of the suspects. On Monday we received a tip-off that the directors are shifted to Wanowrie in Pune.” Rajput said that he, along with other seven-eight investors, came to Pune on Tuesday and managed to trace the residence. “On Tuesday evening my son went to their residence in Sacred Heart Town on the pretext of inquiring about an address.
He confirmed that Razzakis are staying Rajput added: “On Wednesday morning, we again went to the residence of Razzakis. We also took some private security personnel along with us.
This time we went as neighbours and pretended to discuss about the Christmas party. Once we were inside, we told them that we are investors and we want our money back.” When the investors began questioning about their investments, Geeta’s sister-inlaw Shehla Khan called up Geeta’s son Amber.
Amber landed at the flat with police personnel in tow. Amber realised the mistake of alerting the police when Rajput explained the case. Senior inspector Shivaji Kanase of Wanowrie police station told TOI, “Some people brought the suspects to the police station. We contacted the EOW of the Mumbai police. Their team came in the evening and arrested Geeta Razzaki.” Meanwhile, Amber Razzaki said: “We have nothing to do with the fraud. We were employees of the company.
People were when they were getting interest on their money. But, now we are in trouble as the investors have gone against us because they did not get the interest on their investment”. The first case in the fraud was registered in 2007 but the FIR was quashed by the Bombay High Court.
The state went in appeal in the Supreme Court and got the FIR restored in April this year. By August, more investors began approaching the police and this followed a series of court proceedings initiated by Masood to evade police action.
