Mumbai: Tausif Riyaz, alias John Carter, CEO of Platinum Hern, the company that owns Torres Jewellers, was arrested from a hotel in Lonavla, said police. Riyaz, who earlier claimed to be a whistleblower, was produced before a court, which remanded him to police custody till Feb 3. The fraud amount in this case crossed the Rs 100-crore mark, said police.
Earlier, police had issued a lookout circular (LOC) against him.
Police are investigating the multi-crore Torres Jewellery investment fraud. The accused persons, mainly Ukrainian nationals, floated various investment schemes promising a return between 5-11% weekly. Thousands of middle-class investors were conned int he scam.
The company suddenly stopped giving returns, leading to an FIR at the Shivaji Park police station. Riyaz is the fifth person to be arrested in this case.
Originally from Patna in Bihar, Riyaz (33) stayed in Virar while working in Mumbai. In the first week of Jan, he disappeared and was not found at his Virar residence. A police source said he travelled from Patna and was staying at the hotel when the police received a tip-off and apprehended him. Riyaz also sent an email to various govt agencies claiming to be a whistleblower in the scam. In his email, he claimed the foreign accused persons sent around Rs 200 crore in cryptocurrency out of India.
“If he is a whistleblower, why is he not coming forward to provide information to investigators,” a police officer said during the probe. The police earlier arrested Sarvesh Surve, the company’s director, holding both Uzbek and Russian citizenship. Last week, Alphesh Khara, a suspected hawala operator, was also arrested. Police, through CBI Interpol, last week issued blue corner notices against a Turkish and eight Ukrainian nationals who are all suspected to be the key conspirators in the fraud.
