Mumbai: ‘Someone with political links trying to destroy Goregaon couple’

The Economic Offences Wing EOW probing the Bliss Consultancy case that led to the arrest of its proprietors Ashesh and Shivangi Mehta has discovered a pattern where the couple appears to be framed by another entity The details mirror a previous false drug case in Madhya Pradesh wherein the Indore police found the couple innocentCurrently the EOW is probing the involvement of a suspicious entity named Denron Rea IT Trade Pvt Ltd a trading company The company falsely claimed that Bliss Consultancy owed them Rs 200 crore The claim had resulted in a bank and the EOW freezing their accountsOn the other hand some investors claim that Mehta has been trapped by entities having political links and seeking to destroy him financiallyThe Mehta couple has filed a petition in the Bombay High Court against the ghost company Denron Rea in 2023 The court issued summons to all its directors but none have responded to it so far According to EOW sources a hearing in the case is scheduled for next weeklsquoRepaid investorsrsquoAshesh has stated to the police that he never deceived investors but fell victim to a false drug case ldquoHe said he returned over R170 crore to panicking investors and intended to repay others However ongoing investigations and legal challenges hindered the process Mehta assured us that he would settle the remaining R80 crore affecting only 2025 investors among the 4000 who collectively invested around Rs 400 crore Mehta emphasised that he did not deceive anyonerdquo an EOW officer told middayThe remaining investors have been forced to wait for their funds because of the fake arbitration submitted to the bank by Denron Rea The bank having frozen Asheshrsquos account has taken action against Denron Rea for presenting false arbitrationAn EOW officer told midday ldquoUpon scrutiny itrsquos evident that Denron Rea submitted counterfeit documents The arbitratorrsquos signature on the arbitration belongs to someone who died in 2020 while the arbitration was supposedly made in November 2022rdquoMehta in his writ petition before the Bombay High Court claimed that he got to know about the arbitration in June 2023 that he never met an arbitrator in Pune and that he got to know about the order passed by the district judge in Pune via WhatsApp His petition claimed that Denron Rea misused the judicial process to make illegal gainsThe Mehtas suspect that Denron Rea is somehow responsible for the fake drug case in Madhya Pradesh and with the EOW The couple thinks that this was done to distract them by inducing panic among investors and acquiring the money through fraudulent arbitrationsThe police have discovered that Denron Rea rented land in Khed Pune merely to establish its existence It was also revealed that during the arbitration a dummy Ashesh Mehta was presented in Pune while Ashesh himself had no connection with the process ldquoThe high court has taken cognisance and summoned Denron Rearsquos directors We will proceed as per the courtrsquos directivesrdquo an officer told middaylsquoSuspicious claimsrsquoHarshad Ganatra who had invested in Bliss Consultancy told midday ldquoWhy is the EOW incometax department or high court not taking decisive action against Denron which claims to have paid R200 crore cash to Bliss Consultancy Isnrsquot it peculiar that Denron made such a substantial cash payment even if its claim is legitimate Denron has a nominal share capital of R1 lakh and a total profit of around R13 lakh in the past eight years Yet it made such a significant transaction The police should scrutinise the source of these funds and Denronrsquos bank accounts should be examined to verify this transaction Unfortunately no authority seems to pay attention to this aspectrdquoGanatra added ldquoMehta is being trapped by entities backed by politicians having vested interestsrdquoAnother investor said ldquoIt is unrealistic that with a profit of just R225 lakh in FY 201920 and a bank balance of R10 lakh on March 31 2020 Denron invested R200 crore to be returned over three months with an interest of 15 per cent According to Denronrsquos claims the couplersquos failure to repay would result in it getting all of their money in the bank Moreover based on a bogus power of attorney and vakalatnama arbitration proceedings were concluded in June 2023 in Denronrsquos favour at a session court in Khed Pune which the Mehtas were not even aware of They also became accused in an NDPS case in Madhya Pradesh which made them unavailable to defend themselves in the arbitration case These events seem extremely suspiciousrdquoMehtasrsquo lawyer saysldquoThe documents submitted before the Pune district court by Denron are neither signed by my clients nor were they aware of any arbitration by Denron Denron has created an absolutely bogus arbitration proceeding to falsely prosecute my clients and siphon the money of investors Not just my clients but the courts of Maharashtra were defrauded too According to our enquiry the said company has cheated another company in Delhi similarly Taking a serious view of the matter the high court has summoned the directors of Denron on the next date of hearingrdquo said the couplersquos lawyer Hemant Ingle