Mumbai: EOW seizes properties of mystery Goregaon couple

Ashesh Kumar and Shivangi Mehta

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police has frozen 11 bank accounts containing 148 crore and seized 5 properties of Ashesh Mehta, the proprietor of Bliss Consultants, and his wife Shivangi Mehta. According to sources, the properties, which are situated in Kandivli, Goregaon and Santacruz, are worth approximately R16 crore in total. Funds belonging to the couple worth Rs 170 crore were frozen earlier due to the efforts of the Mumbai Police.

The couple has been at large after a drug case was filed against them in Madhya Pradesh in the first week of June. Days later, a cheating case was registered against them at the Amboli police station after former MLA Krishna Hegde approached the police. The investigation into the case was eventually transferred to the EOW and the police slapped additional sections of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act (MPID), 2018, as several details emerged during the course of their investigation.

Ashesh Kumar and Shivangi Mehta

"The couple have disappeared after having cheated over a thousand investors of over a thousand crores. The Mumbai Police and EOW have acted quickly on my complaint. I would request the authorities to file a petition quickly so that the frozen funds can be disbursed to investors who have lost their hard-earned money. Also, the seized properties should be liquidated. Investors' money should be returned through the police," said Hegde, who had invested lakhs into Bliss Consultants.

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He added, "The EOW has more details and it is better that Mehta's accomplices come clean and cooperate in the investigation." The former legislator thanked Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and top cops including Special Commissioner Deven Bharti and Joint Commissioner Nishith Mishra for the prompt action taken by them in the matter. The Mumbai police have already issued a lookout notice on the couple, he added.

The Mehtas' lawyer, Hemant Ingle, told mid-day, "A procedure is prescribed under Section 4 of the MPID Act for the attachment of properties. My client is unaware of any such order being passed by the competent authority. I doubt whether the EOW by itself has any power under the MPID Act."

Rs 16 cr
Value of seized properties