Investment fraud: Goregaon cops got a complaint in December, but didn’t act

Goregaon police applied two different sets of rules for one nature of complaint against Ketan Rambhiya who they arrested this week in a financial fraud case They acted on a complaint filed by one of his victims in January but had refused to register an FIR when another had approached them last yearRambhiya is the owner of Nutan Dal Mill a chain of grocery stores in Mumbai and he has been accused of duping his customers of over R40 crore on the pretext of investmentAnita Roopsingh Kadecha filed a complaint on January 17 alleging that Rambhiya duped her of R415 lakh by promising a return of 15 per cent Police registered an FIR on February 16 and finally arrested him on Wednesday nightKetan Rambhiya the accusedHowever when another victim Francis Dsouza approached Goregaon police on December 28 2021 about the fraud they refused to register an FIR ldquoWhen I approached the police with my complaint they recorded my statement but there was hardly any progress in the case When I asked the inspector he told me it is a civil case and an FIR cannot be registeredrdquo Dsouza told middayDsouza a Goregaon resident had to move court urging the judiciary to instruct the police to file an FIR in his case The hearing is scheduled on February 24ldquoMy principal amount is nearly R44 lakh If one adds the interest promised by Rambhiya the total amount would be around R80 lakhrdquo he said ldquoI was assured of a flat in return of the invested amount But when I questioned about the delay in handing over the flat I was given an offer of taking a 16 per cent interest on the deposited money till I got possession of the flatrdquo Francis addedAnother victim comes forwardSmita Dhamapurkar who had lsquoinvestedrsquo R9 lakh with Rambhiya also came forward after his arrest She visited the Goregaon police station on February 17 and submitted her complaint ldquoI had invested around R9 lakh But like others even I have been cheated by the person arrested in this caserdquo Smita told middayDattatray Thopte senior inspector said they are adding statements and crime proceeds to the existing case ldquoInitially an FIR was filed of around R4150 lakh Yesterday two more people filed their complaint Accordingly another R24 lakh has been added to the crime proceeds We will also call Francis Dsouza and record his statement and add his invested amount to the crime proceedsrdquolsquoWill fight till the endrsquoKadecha a law graduate has decided to pursue the case till its logical end ldquoLike me many genuine middle and poorclass citizens were lured by Rambhiya on the pretext of high returns Every person has a dream to own a house of his own and I believe like me most of the investors got carried away by the objective to make money and buy a house for the familyrdquo she told middayAccording to the complainant in the case even after marriage she was living in her fatherrsquos flat ldquoWe had some fixed deposits savings and gold We invested all the money including the amount received by selling gold I thought we would have our own house But now forget about the dream of having our own home we have lost all our savingsrdquo She wants police to seize Rambhiyas assets and ensure that they are used to repay the cheated investors