Bounced cheques, fake promises: Businessman, wife, son arrested for Rs 1.3 crore stock market investment scam in Mumbai
The arrests followed a detailed investigation involving bounced cheque complaints and the family's failure to respond to official police notices.
The complainant, Notriga Engineer, a 31-year-old entrepreneur who runs a lounge near Lamington Road, filed an FIR alleging that he was lured into the scheme by the son, Prajwal Shah, whom he met during a gaming tournament in 2018. Prajwal allegedly gained Notriga's trust by initially repaying borrowed sums with attractive profits.
Prajwal later claimed that his father had access to high-yield stock market investments, offering returns of 5-10% within eight days. Tempted by the prospect, Notriga invested increasing amounts over time and also encouraged friends to invest. Between 2019 and 2021, over Rs 91 lakh was deposited into two accounts belonging to Prajwal and his family - through both online transfers and cash.
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The scheme began to unravel in late 2020 when the promised returns suddenly stopped.
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When asked for repayment, the Shahs allegedly cited a pending bank loan and claimed that Jayshree Shah, Prajwal's mother, had been diagnosed with cancer and urgently needed funds. On this pretext, Notriga paid another Rs 20 lakh in cash, bringing the total investment to Rs 1.11 crore, plus Rs 19 lakh in promised interest.
To assure repayment, the Shahs issued two post-dated cheques - one for Rs 32 lakh and another for Rs 98 lakh.
However, the Rs 32 lakh cheque bounced due to insufficient funds. Multiple attempts by Notriga to recover the money failed, and the family reportedly stopped answering calls and avoided all contact.
During investigations, the money trail led to a bank account under the name Global Traders, operated by Nitin Bohra and Pankaj Jain, from whom Prajwal allegedly collected the transferred funds in cash. Police say the funds were never used for stock market investments and were instead misappropriated by the Shah family.
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