SRINAGAR: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch Jammu has filed a chargesheet against two officials of private finance companies for allegedly collecting Rs 1.22 crore from investors in Samba district through investment schemes that promised returns, officials said on Monday.
The accused have been identified as Manoj Kumar, Area-Branch Manager, and Vikram Singh, Assistant Branch Manager, associated with Metropolitan Finance Ltd, Mansar Finance Ltd and Vaibhav Pariwar India Projects Ltd.
The chargesheet was filed before the court of the Additional Munsiff, Samba, in a case registered at Police Station Samba under Sections 420 and 120-B of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC).
The investigation, conducted by Inspector Taranjeet Singh, found that the accused allegedly persuaded residents of Samba to invest in schemes including compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) and fixed deposits by promising lucrative returns, officials said.
According to the investigation, Rs 1,22,96,324 was collected from investors. Of this, Rs 8,87,442 was allegedly collected for Mansar Finance Ltd and Rs 1,14,08,882 for Metropolitan Finance Ltd.
The investigation also found that the Reserve Bank of India had cancelled the Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) registrations of Mansar Finance Ltd and Metropolitan Finance Ltd for statutory non-compliance. Vaibhav Pariwar India Projects Ltd, meanwhile, was never registered as an NBFC, officials said.
The accused allegedly issued cheques that were dishonoured and failed to repay investors after the investments matured.
During the investigation, the Crime Branch seized documents including CCPS certificates, debentures, money receipts and bank records as evidence.
The agency has also sought initiation of proceedings under Section 512 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) against Rajesh Kumar Rai, the company’s Managing Director, who is absconding and allegedly continues to evade the investigation.
