Mumbai: Ponzi company’s bouncers thrash investor for speaking to the media

Hours after a man who was allegedly duped by a Borivlibased Ponzi firm spoke to the media on Sunday he was thrashed by the companyrsquos bouncers Rajesh Manjal said he was targeted because he has been aggressively pursuing to get his money back The founder of the firm Kaak Economic Marketing Pvt Ltd was arrested on February 19 for cheating at least 25000 investors through schemes that promised high returnsKandivli resident Manjal a delivery boy five bouncers waylaid him at Bandarpakhadi where he had gone to meet a friend The bouncers abused him and hit him with a cricket bat The Charkop police have registered a case and are yet to make any arrests The police have also found that Kakde bought a lot of land using investorsrsquo moneyKishore Kakde main accusedldquoThey tried to kidnap me by putting me into an auto They snatched my mobile phone and a gold chain Somehow I escapedrdquoManjal said he had invested Rs 5000 in the Maharaja card scheme of Kaak that promised groceries every month for a year His motherinlawrsquos sister Mahadevi Dhotre and mother put in Rs 100000 each in the firmrsquos FD scheme by mortgaging their jewellery ldquoI went to the office many times but the bouncers did not let us enter When we learnt about the fraud I gave the details to the media But Irsquom not going to be afraid Irsquoll fight for my rightrdquo he saidManohar Shinde senior PI of Charkop police station said they are looking for the attackersInvestor outside Kaakrsquos Borivli office on MondayInvestors throng Kaakrsquos officeAfter midday frontpaged the alleged fraud which cops suspect would be at least Rs 100 crore hundreds of investors visited Kakdersquos companyrsquos Orchid Plaza midday found male four to five male and two women bouncers to stop people at the gate After some time investors were allowed to go inside A bulk of Kaakrsquos investors include drivers househleps and daily labourersVeggies vendor to student dupedVegetable vendor Kailas More 27 said he had paid Rs 20021 in a scheme in 2019 ldquoI was told I would get R8000 in my account and groceries worth Rs 3000 every month Everything stopped after two months My brother Amit also invested in the schemerdquo said the Gorai resident He said about 60 people from his area have given an application against Kaak to the Borivli policeAakash Rane a BCom student and Kailas More vegetable vendorldquoAfter two months the company again approached me to pay Rs 2000 promising I would be gifted a laptop I paid that money too but didnrsquot get anythingrdquo said MoreGorai resident Sagar Modhale 24 said ldquoI was working in the transport industry During the lockdown I also invested Rs 20021 The company said I would chicken from a shop with whom they had a tieup and I would also get groceries Nothing came in my way In May 2021 I paid Rs 2021 after I was told they would gift me a washing machinerdquoModhale said the company told him on Monday that the police have seized their account and they canrsquot do anything till the end of this month ldquoOutside the office they kept bouncers and did not allow anyone to visit the office directly If argued they are threatening us Itrsquos pure goonda gardirdquoAnother investor Aakash Rane a BCom student and Gorai resident told midday ldquoI lost my father a few years ago and I am living with my mother I pawned my motherrsquos gold chain and put in Rs 20021 in a Kaak scheme I approached the Borivli police but they didnrsquot register a complaint saying it was just Rs 20021 I must get my money backrdquoTwo more accused bookedThe police on Monday added two more names in the fraud FIR While one is unknown the otherrsquos name is Shyam Parab An officer from Borivli police station said more names will be added as the investigation progresses ldquoMany people invested in the company and then became agents to get more investors They made a lot of money Parab was one such person Seeing his performance Kaak gave him a car and many other giftsrdquo said the officerThe officer added ldquoWe have found that Kakde used the investorsrsquo money to buy hundreds of hectares outside Mumbai including Palghar district We have received many complaintsrdquo