A local court on Friday remanded Tarak Bajpai, COO of an online survey company SpeakAsia and three others to police custody till August 4. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) had arrested all four around 3.00 am early Fridayin Indore after two Mumbaikars filed a complaint against the company for cheating them of Rs 5.43 lakh.
According to the remand copy, the main complainant Navneet Khosla had filed a complaint claiming he was allegedly duped of the Rs 2.4 lakh he had invested in the scheme. Khosla told investigators that in February 17, 2011, two members from SpeakAsia—Ujjawala Shete and Amit Welankar—had visited his house to discuss the scheme.
The public prosecutor Ujjawala Gite told the court that the CEO of the company, Manoj Kumar was absconding and fearing that the others—COO Tarak Bajpai (36), Ravi Khanna (44), Shaikh Rais Lateef (32) and Rajeev Mehrotra (50)—too would abscond, they were arrested.
The EOW registered the case on Thursday under Section 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420(cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under Section 3 (Banning of prize chit and money circulation schemes or enrollment as members or participation) and various other sections of the Prize Chit and Money Circulation Banning Act.
Defence advocate Abad Ponda denied that the CEO was hiding. He repeatedly told the court that the accused were never issued summons before their arrest. He said the police had acted “in lightning speed” only after the company had intervened in a PIL filed against it in the HC. According to Ponda, at no time did SpeakAsia say it would double or triple investors’ money, but that it was a point-based system that depended on the client’s efforts.
Source:- times of india
