Mumbai: Accused in Rs 4.50 crore car scam granted bail

Complainants reached Sethi's office after they figured something was amiss but he had shut shop by then

The man behind the multi-crore rent a car scam - Monish Sethi - was granted bail in a special court on July 22. Sethi was arrested on March 12 for duping hundreds of investors to the tune of over R4 crore. The special Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (in Financial Establishments Acts) court hearing his case has directed him to deposit a personal bond of R5 lakh.

Special judge G R Agarwal also warned Sethi against pressurising the prosecution witnesses, tampering with evidence, disposing of any property and leaving the country without the court's permission. The applicant has been accused of encouraging many persons to purchase cars by promising to rent them for R35,000 per month. He accepted down payments from the victims for the purchase of cars and used it up. He executed an agreement for tourist vehicles for all the investors under which he obtained their vehicle for five years on a rental basis. About 101 such cars were seized from the BMC's parking lots. About 205 people have given their statements while 339 persons have been cheated for a total of R4.50 crore.

Accused Monish Sethi

A chargesheet, in this case, was filed on May 10. The applicant's lawyer argued that various agreements were executed between the applicant and submitted that it was a leave and license agreement the owners of the vehicles with Sethi agreeing to pay a rent of R35,000 to each of them every month. However, due to the interference of politicians he could not carry on his business. The applicant, he said, had surrendered before the court. He also urged that section 420 (cheating) and 406 (breach of trust) of IPC are not applicable in this case.

Court's observation

The court in its order observed that on perusal of the agreement (Agreement for Tourist Vehicle), "prima facie this 'monthly rent' cannot be treated as 'monthly return on investment'. Though it is alleged that the applicant himself purchased all the vehicles in the name of owners by taking down payments, the chargesheet shows that the registration documents of RTO are in the name of respective owners and not in the name of applicant." The court further stated that "the applicant seems to have initially acted as per the terms and conditions of the agreement executed with the owners." It appears that "the applicant subsequently committed a breach of the agreement."

Beware of such offers

• Double your money in two months or less
• Post-dated cheques as a guarantee
• Claim they do it by investing in some wonder projects or plantations
• Huge sums of money by being a part of the gift chain - you gift a certain amount of money to two people, then find two people who will enter the chain by gifting you the sum. They, in turn, will get two more subscribers, and so on
• As the scheme is run by a registered company, it is absolutely safe

Mumbai police say

• All schemes offering high returns of double money within two months or such short spans have no legal sanction, nor are they reliable
• Post-dated cheques are not a guaranteed payment device, as they could bounce when you finally present them
• There are no projects, especially agriculture-based, which can give returns in less than a year. In fact, tree plantations take at least 10 years to mature
• Gift schemes and chains are an offence under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act of 1978
• Even registered companies are not allowed to promote and run any such schemes

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