Mumbai crime: Borivli ponzi company that swindled 25,000 over 2 years busted

The owner of a Borivlibased firm has been arrested for allegedly duping about 25000 people with the lure of schemes with unbelievably high returns in the past two years The police suspect Kaak Economic Marketing Pvt Ltd tricked investors including house help drivers auto and taxi drivers who might have lost their lifersquos savings One of the Ponzi schemes apparently offered a 1000 per cent gain on fixed deposits over a yearThe Borivli police said accused Kishore Kakde came up with schemes that promised monthly ration and steady income Under his scheme Lagan Basta Kanya Dhan Yojna each investorrsquos daughter was to get furniture and electronics worth Rs 2 lakh on a onetime payment of Rs 10000 The company also promised a car if an investor kept Rs 52000 with it for a yearThe police said Kakde operated from his office at Orchid Plaza in Borivali west His arrest on February 19 came on a complaint by a senior citizen who had invested Rs 7 lakh in a Kaak scheme but turned out to be bogus A police officer said Kakde had told his customers that they would be given a monthly ration worth Rs 8000 for a year if they invested Rs 25000 Investors were initially thrilled to get ration every month but it stopped after a few months he saidOffice of Kaak Economic Marketing at Orchid Plaza Borivli West PicAnurag AhireldquoWe suspect 25000 investors were duped We are trying to ascertain the exact extent of the fraud which would be at least Rs 100 crorerdquo said the officer Kandivli resident Rajesh Manjal said he was defrauded by Kaak ldquoI was a delivery boy and my wife washed dishes in peoplersquos homes Kaakrsquos representatives promised us to give groceries every month for a year on payment of Rs 5000 During lockdown I was struggling to feed my family I raised the money by mortgaging my wifes jewelleryrdquo he told middayManjal said ldquoWe were given ID cards for ration We got grains for two months but then it was stopped When we went to Kaakrsquos office to complain about it the bouncer there didnrsquot let us meet After a few attempts the staff met us once They noted our complaint but nothing happenedrdquo Manjal said his motherinlawrsquos sister Mahadevi Dhotre and his mother invested Rs 10000 each in the companyrsquos FD by mortgaging their jewellery ldquoThey offered R1 lakh in return after a year and a car through a lucky draw They never got the money There are hundreds of victims likerdquoKakdersquos company allegedly used bouncers to scare off investors who tried to raise complaints In the scheme which was started in the name of Maharaja Card on depositing Rs 5000 the scheme holder was promised to give ration of 21 hundred rupees every month for one year A police officer said the company raised the price of Rs 5000 ration scheme which it called Maharaja card to Rs 25000 after people began thronging its officeIn some cases investors were allowed to meet the staff at Kaam who noted the complaints but did not act on themldquoThey promised facilities like medical petrol gas cylinders cake and tours up to Rs 8000 every month for 12 months On FDs the promised return was 10 times the invested money and 20 per cent monthly paymentrdquo said the officerA team of 26 officers raided the office on Saturday and seized documents hard disks and laptops ldquoSo far we have checked around 25000 complaints The cheated amount will increase furtherrdquo he addedMy lifersquos savings are goneA 73yearold retired LIC agent said he had invested his lifersquos savings in Kaak a couple of years ago but he refused to share his name saying the company officials could register a case against him He told midday ldquoI had invested about Rs 19 lakh and the company promised that we will get 20 per cent interest every month More than two years have passed but I have not received even a single rupeerdquo He added ldquoI have been going to the office for almost one year but more than 50 bouncers posted outside the office stopped me outsiderdquoldquoI came to know there are over two lakh people like me who had invested money in Kaak but did not get the returns I request the police to investigate and put all the culprits behind the bars I also request all who have been cheated by the bank to register police complaintsrdquo he said Another victim said ldquoMany people work as agents for the company and have also invested themselves They even got benefits of cars bikes and other schemes The company has cheated the poor and simple people I had invested in the Maharaja scheme for ration but did not get anythingrdquo100037Returns promised by the firm