CA seeks police protection amid allegations of multi-crore Torres jewellery fraud case
Mumbai, Jan 10, 2025
Days after police began probing an alleged multi-crore Torres Jewellery fraud case, a chartered accountant, Abhishek Gupta, 31, who prepared its audit report last December, claiming to be the whistleblower, petitioned the Bombay High Court for police protection.
The court on Friday posted the matter for Monday. The state lawyer on Friday said a report has been called for to evaluate the alleged threat perception following his application dated January 6 for police protection.
Additional Public Prosecutor Prajakta Shinde, however, also said that while Gupta claims to be a whistleblower, she is not aware of the contents of the first information report (FIR) being probed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai police as she had no instructions since the petition did not make the EOW a party.
The HC division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale asked and gave Gupta’s lawyer the liberty to make EOW a party to the petition.
Gupta prepared the audit and financial report for 2023-24 for the company Torres on December 26, 2024, and before HC claimed he was a “vulnerable witness and could be eliminated.” The company is accused of allegedly defrauding investors of crores of rupees. The petitioner said that investors lodged an FIR on January 6, 2025, with the Shivaji Park police station in Mumbai.
Gupta also sought that the investigation be handed over to CID or that a SIT be formed to effectively probe the alleged fraud and ponzi scheme.
His petition claimed that on December 29, 2024, he approached the N M Joshi Marg police station but “was not heard’’ and his complaint “not accepted.’’ He also claimed he is being a “scapegoat’’ though as a “whistleblower’’ it was on his “complaint all the criminal process started.’’ His petition asked whether the additional commissioner of police (protection and security) was justified in not granting him protection.
Gupta also said when he learned of the alleged “massive fraud” in the company and several non-compliances and irregularities, he reported it to the company director, Sarvesh Surve, 32, under his professional obligations. Gupta, in his petition, alleged that he was called to the company office at Lower Parel and that he was “physically intimidated,’’ his cell phone “confiscated,’’ and he was “offered Rs 5 crore’’ by three “Ukrainian nationals’’ not to disclose anything or face dire consequences.
He also said the director, Surve, wrote to the Prime Minister and other statutory authorities on January 2 about the alleged fraud, as did others.
[The Times of India]
