Unit I of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) is set to arrest Nowhera Shaikh, managing director of Heera Gold Group, who is now in the custody of the Mumbai Police. Tushar Doshi, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch), said, “We have sought her custody and initiated the procedure in court. We have received complaints from 31 people of being cheated by the group.”
Cheated of ₹1.59 crore
A 40-year-old woman and 30 others, who had invested ₹1.59 crore in the firm, had filed the case with the Nerul police on November 13.
The complainant, a resident of Kharghar, had invested ₹2 lakh in 2016 and received returns of ₹6,000 every month, totalling over ₹1.50 lakh. She invested another ₹5 lakh in May 2018 and received ₹8,000 in September, but then the returns stopped. A single parent of two, the complainant had taken a loan of ₹5 lakh to educate her Class XI daughter.
‘Totally bankrupt’
The complainant said, “I invested in the group hoping that I would get a monthly return and use it to pay my daughter’s fees. After the returns stopped, my daughter had to drop out. She was attending integrated classes for IIT-JEE and Class XI. Now I cannot afford the quarterly fees of ₹50,000. I also had to shut down three parlours owing to the losses. I am totally bankrupt now.”
The complainant said the group through YouTube videos claimed the scheme was exclusively for Muslims and the returns would be halal money. She said, “I never met Ms. Shaikh but her agents did all the formalities at her office in Seawoods. They told us the returns we got was not the interest, but the profit they earned by trading in gold in the UAE. They lured us in the name of religion and halal money.”
Seven officials booked
Ms. Shaikh and six others, including managing director Mubarak Jaan Shaikh, general manager Molly Thomas, marketing executive Ajeeza Juwale, marketing manager Akhtar Modak, and agents Mudassar and Rizwan Shaikh, has been booked under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 120B (conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, along with relevant sections of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978.