Hope for high returns from a small investment led a few people in Goregaon to lose their hard-earned money after the schemes they invested in turned out to be fraudulent. The people were responding to advertisements in the newspaper for investors to put in an amount of money, which would double after a certain period of time. The money was invested in the name of Imperial Exports and Imperial Entertainment and was collected by Bag who worked for Shetty, the alleged proprietor of the firm. When the specified duration ended, the investors demanded their money. However, they were told to wait a while. When the wait became too long the investors approached the Goregaon police who detained Palash and have registered an FIR against him and Shetty.

“I have invested Rs two lakh in this scheme and I want my money back,” said Sameer Khan a textile graphic designer. “I read an advertisement in the newspaper where Palash’s number was given. When I called him up he took me to an office in Rolex Complex where he took my money and promised to double it. After the period elapsed he asked me to have patience as the market was bad. However last Friday a few other investors and I went and demanded our initial investment back. We were then given post-dated cheques by Palash after which we went to the police,” added Khan. When asked if they had met Shetty, Khan and the other investors said, “No, we have always dealt with Palash.”

However, Palash’s advocate R Sharma said, “Palash was only working for Shetty. It is Shetty who the police should search.”