Investment scam: Couple cheats over 75 people of Rs 5 crore

Accused couple Manish and Vandana Chauhan

The Dindoshi police are on the lookout for a couple who have cheated more than 75 people out of Rs 5 crore by promising them hefty returns on fixed deposits at the post office and various mutual fund schemes in two companies owned by them. The couple, who is currently absconding, has been identified as Manish Chauhan, 50 and his wife Vandana, 46. They are residents of Goregaon East.

The Dindoshi police said the couple approached a woman Urvashi Patel in 2018 and told her that they had been working at the post office for the past 15 years. Patel said that they had promised her good returns on a fixed deposit amount of Rs 25,000. Vandana then told Patel that they owned two private companies - Niyoni

Infra and Niyoni World - and said that on a monthly investment of Rs 700, she would get Rs 50,000 after five years. Trusting Vandana, Patel invested Rs 41,000 in the company and her mother-in-law also invested Rs 6 lakh.

This year when Patel approached Vandana and asked for the returns, she started making excuses and began ignoring her calls. Then Patel and another victim Raju Gohil, whose family has been duped of Rs 1.50 lakh, approached DCP Zone XII, Somnath Gharge. On the instructions of Gharge, senior inspector DS Kamble registered a case against the couple on December 18.

Gohil told mid-day, "Have known Chauhan and his family for almost 40 years. He was out on bail after spending five years in jail in a murder case. He and his wife used to work as collection agents. Six years back he started two investment companies and got many people to invest in his schemes promising hefty returns. When people started asking for the returns, the couple stopped taking calls. They sold their house and fled on December 6."

Senior inspector Kamble said, "We have registered a case of cheating against the couple and are trying to trace them." Gharge said that he had spoken to at least 200 women, who have been cheated.