The Thane Economic Offences Wing (EOW) recently arrested a 42-year-old APMC trader, Chetan Dand, for cheating over 100 investors out of Rs 16 crore through a Ponzi scheme. But while there are 120 complainants, the police suspect nearly 500 people have been cheated and the amount is Rs 56 crore. Interestingly, Dand has claimed his accomplice, Kelvin Kenia, 23, had left for Africa in December 2019 with the money. But Kelvin’s family claimed he died during the pandemic in 2020. The police are verifying this.

The EOW has written to the BMC and the immigration department to check the death certificate and passport entries of Kelvin. EOW investigation officer Prashant Sawant said, “We arrested the accused Chetan Dand from his Dombivli residence recently. We are verifying all the details about Kelvin.”