PANJIM: The Crime Branch of the Goa Police arrested a couple hailing from Mumbai for allegedly cheating several Goan depositors, including jewellers, of over Rs 5.7 crore.
According to the police, the accused identified as Akshay Sawant (34) and Pallavi Ghadge (33) allegedly misled investors by promising profitable returns from gold trade and offering gold at lower rates.
According to the police, Mohd Shrif Wasim Khan, a resident of Porvorim and others lodged a complaint stating that accused Akshay introduced himself to be in business of gold trade and asked all the complainants to be his agents and get investors into his company Venkateshwar Bullion Gold.
Akshay then induced the agents to get money from investors in return of gold coins or biscuits or as investment into his gold trade but he did not give the promised gold coins, biscuits or profit on the invested amount.
The police said 20 pass books of different banks, 13 cheque books of different banks, one laptop, one printer, 14 mobile phones, one external hard disk, passport of Akshay Sawant, one pen drive, eight ATM cards of different banks, 11 SIM cards have been recovered while bank accounts showing Rs 17 lakh deposit have been frozen.