The Bidar police on Thursday arrested one person in a misappropriation case related to Anand Rathi stock brokers.
Channappa Agadi, employee of a Bidar-based firm that operated as a franchise, was arrested and produced before the court. Shivaraj S., an employee of the society, had surrendered before the police earlier. Gurunath Jantikar, president of Kalyan Souharda Credit Cooperative Society, was picked up for questioning by the police on Thursday night.
The three face allegations of diverting investors’ money to individual accounts opened in the cooperative society. Three more accused — Sandeep, Anil and Sanjiv — are absconding. Superintendent of Police Prakash Nikam expressed confidence that they would be nabbed soon.
Bidar-based engineer Sangamesh Naubade submitted a petition to the police stating that Rs. 47 lakh invested by him in shares through Anand Rathi Share and Stock Brokers Ltd. never reached the Mumbai-based firm. It was instead deposited locally and withdrawn in a fake account.
Alleging that his case was part of a “larger scam” he said there were at least 30 instances of such cheating. A FIR was registered in New Town police station and Mr. Nikam said a special team was formed to look into the case.
Mr. Naubade had alleged that S. Sandeep and Channappa Agadi had created a fictitious account and deposited the cheques in the Kalyan Souharda Credit Cooperative Society, cashed it locally, and withdrew money from the account.
“How can an illegal transaction of Rs. 47 lakh happen without the involvement of the society?” Mr Naubade asked.
However, Mr. Jantikar, who is also State unit president of Karnataka State Souharda Federal Cooperative, denied the allegations. “We opened the account according to RBI guidelines, after completing due necessities like Know Your Customer,” he said. “If there is a case, it is between the share brokers and the investor. We are not involved,’’ he said. He added that he did not have the time to micro-manage the accounts.
Anand Rathi Ltd. responded to an email saying they were “currently researching on the query”.
Meanwhile, a meeting of some investors who believe they were conned by the franchise staff and the cooperative society was held recently. Mr Naubade said that most people were unaware of the scam as the conmen were sending computerized SMS to their mobile phones about their daily losses and profits in the share market.
Businessman Sangameshwar Gada asked all the victims to file police complaints. He said that he had a list of 17 persons who were cheated.
