After receiving complaints from 207 investors of Goodwin Jewellers, the APMC police booked its owners — A.M. Sunilkumar and A.M. Sudheeshkumar, both brothers — on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Navi Mumbai Police has received three complaints against the jewellery chain.
“At APMC police station, we received complaints from 207 investors alleging cheating of around ₹7.5 crore. As of now, there are no orders on transferring the case to the EOW, so we will be investigating,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone I) Pankaj Dahane said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Pravinkumar Patil said, “As per protocol, we are investigating the complaints that we received and in a few days will register a case. If the APMC police directly register the case on the basis of the complains they received, the complaints we had will be added to the FIR. We have no information on the Thane case being transferred to us or our case being transferred to Thane.”
The complainant in the APMC case is Koparkhairane resident Neeta Surve. The firm’s owners, who are also directors and hailing from Thrissur in Kerala, have been booked under Sections 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the IPC and under sections of the Maharashtra Protection of Interests of Depositors in Financial Establishments Act.
Goodwin Jewellers shut its outlets in Thane, Palghar, Mumbai and Navi Mumbai a couple of days before Deepavali, leaving hundreds, who had invested in their gold and fixed deposit schemes, in the lurch. “They had an outlet at Satra Plaza in Vashi and the complaints who approached us had invested there under various schemes. Without giving any clarity or notification, the outlets were shut,” police inspector Basit Ali Sayyed, APMC police station, said.
In December 2016, Mr. Sudheeshkumar was arrested by the Nerul police for attempting to murder his wife in his flat in Sagar Darshan society. He was out on bail and the case is yet to come up for trial in court. He had attacked his wife with a sickle following a fight over his suspicion on her having an extramarital affair.
