Barot told The Financial Express on Tuesday that the number of people who must have invested varying amounts, ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 1 lakh, in Anubhav Plantation's teak farm and other schemes from Gujarat alone might exceed 8,000 to 10,000. He claimed to have himself invested Rs 25 lakh.

He said one of the major reasons for so many investors being cheated was the credit agency's assigning high ratings to the various schemes of the group. While the group had started collecting money from the public since 1990, he said, the SEBI started imposing guidelines for such schemes recently.

And, it was only a few months back that Duff and Phelps Credit Rating Indiadowngraded the group's Rs 50-crore teak farm scheme from DCR Ind 4 (CIS) to DCR Ind 5 (CIS). Barot, who is a practising criminal advocate in the apex and state high court, said that the association would take recourse to the consumer court, in addition to civil applications, for bouncing of cheques under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.

He had convened an impromptu meeting of Gujarat-based investors at Parimal Garden here on Sunday.