Torres scam accused encouraged cash investments says police charge sheet

Mumbai, Mar 25 (PTI) The accused in the multi-crore Torres scam offered two per cent higher returns on cash and avoided accepting investments online so that they could misappropriate the funds easily, the charge sheet filed by the city police has said.
Investors were also encouraged to buy moissanite stones and gold/silver jewelry through cash, claimed the charge sheet, filed before a local court a few days ago.

The company also offered attractive gifts such as flats, cars, mobile phones and television sets to entice customers, it said.
A two per cent higher rate of return was offered for cash investments to facilitate misappropriation of invested funds, the charge sheet said, adding online payments were avoided on pretexts such as a slow Internet connection or network issues.
Platinum Hern Pvt Ltd, owner of Torres brand, is accused of cheating around 14,000 investors of at least Rs 142 crore through a combination of Ponzi and multi-level marketing (MLM) schemes.

The city police's Economic Offences Wing has so far arrested seven persons in the case.

The scam victims included a pani-puri stall owner, housewives, salaried persons and businesspersons.
The 27,000-page charge sheet was filed before the special Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act court here.

Besides Platinum Hern Pvt Ltd, it named Tania alias Tazagul Xastova, Valentina Ganesh Kumar, Sarvesh Surve, Alpesh Khara, Tausif Riyaz, Armen Atian and Lallan Singh.

The charge sheet said that Platinum Hern trained its employees to provide attractive information to prospective investors before the firm's showroom was opened. These showrooms were equipped with expensive decorative items.
"Additionally, they enticed customers by promising gifts like iPhones for purchases exceeding Rs 20 lakh, weekly lucky draws with prizes like gold and silver jewelry, televisions , scooters, Toyota cars and flats," the charge sheet said.

Higher returns were offered on moissanite stones compared to that on gold/silver jewelry to discourage people from investing in the latter, the charge sheet said.

It cited an investor's statement that she learnt only later that these stones were lab-grown and have no real market value.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)