Mumbai: The EOW on Wednesday took custody of three office bearers of Platinum Haren Pvt Ltd in connection with the multi-crore Torres jewellery investment fraud case. Most of the investors put money in various schemes last month falling for promised weekly returns of around 10%. An EOW officer said the scale of the scam, as per the complaints received so far, has reached Rs 19 crore, with the “amount expected to increase as more complaints come in”.
An FIR of cheating was registered with the Shivaji Park police on Monday. The police arrested the company’s GM Tania alias Tazagul Karaxanovna Xasatova (52), store in-charge Valentina Ganesh Kumar (44), and director Sarvesh Surve (30). Xasatova is an Uzbek national, and Valentina is Russian and married to an Indian man. Xasatova lives in a rented flat in Colaba, Valentina in Dombivli, and Surve in Umerkhadi. All three were produced in court and sent to police custody until Jan 13. Valentina has been in India for 15 years, while Xasatova for eight years, they told police. The police have issued look-out circulars against the company’s CEO Taufik Riyaz alias John Carter, an Indian national, and director Viktoria Kovalenko, a Ukrainian.
On Wednesday, hundreds of Torres investors thronged Shivaji Park police station, where a redress forum has been set up. An ACP has been appointed as head of the probe team. “We will start searches at Torres’s offices,” said an officer. The police are studying the company’s financial transaction records to find out if money was sent abroad.
The police suspect the accused cheated over 18,000 people from Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, and Mira-Bhayandar. Navghar police in Mira-Bhayandar have frozen Rs 9.17 crore maintained by the company in bank accounts. Thane police and APMC police in Navi Mumbai have registered separate cases, even as Kandivli police recorded the statements of 10 investors and forwarded them to Shivaji Park police. BJP’s Kirit Somaiya has claimed the scam could cross Rs 1,000 crore.
Torres has five stores at Grant Road, Dadar, Sanpada, Mira Road, and Kalyan, and had plans to open a sixth one in Kandivli. The accused started the Ponzi scheme in Feb 2024 and lured investors with weekly returns of around 10%, with additional bonuses for cash investments and referrals.