Rs 300 crore franchisee rip-off by Gitanjali that bothered no one

BENGALURU: It was not just Punjab National Bank that was duped by Gitanjali group promoter Mehul Choksi in the humongous scam over the years. Gitanjali Gems’ franchisees, over 200 of them across India, were also cheated, forcing most of them to shut shop. They have dues totalling hundreds of crores, which may never be repaid.

Several of these franchisees had lodged complaints individually and collectively with the Union Finance ministry and Enforcement Directorate in 2015 and even filed cases in local courts. The franchise owners include those from Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hyderabad, Kurnool, Kochi, Jodhpur, Thiruvananthapuram, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Mumbai and other places. Some of them who realised that they had fallen into a trap, teamed up in 2015 to fight for their dues. Each franchise owner had invested anywhere between Rs 5cr and Rs 25cr, totalling over Rs 300 crore. When nothing worked, Hariprasad and six others brought the issue to the notice of the PMO in 2016.

Speaking to The New Indian Express, Sharath of Kochi, who became a franchisee in 2013, said he realised he had been cheated just the following year after he did not get the monthly payments promised. “I lost Rs 14-15 crore in investment and filed a complaint with the Kochi police. But they did not bother to investigate,” he rued.

Bengaluru’s Hariprasad, who lost Rs 13 crore, said, “I will fight for my dues.” He was offered Rs 5.5 lakh per month including store rent and a monthly payment of Rs 10 lakh against his investment of Rs 10 crore.

Fresh seizures

I-Tax dept attaches property worth L1,200 crore of Gitanjali Group located in SEZ Hyderabad
ED freezes shares, deposits and luxury cars worth over L100 crore of diamond king Nirav Modi and his relative Mehul Choksi’s Gitanjali group
PNB writes to Nirav seeking a concrete and implementable plan to settle the loss in the L11,400 cr Letter of Undertakings (LoU) bank rip-off

Rotomac boss held

CBI arrested Rotomac owner Vikram Kothari and his son Rahul for the default on loan repayments to the tune of Rs 3,695 crore