Police seek corroboration of evidence, question staff and pursue overseas assets, mobile data
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police, is currently investigating the case. File pic
On Monday, Amber Dalal, the prime accused and mastermind in a scam worth over a thousand crores, was granted seven more days of police remand. This remand, which began on March 27 was extended until April 8, The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police, currently investigating the case, presented Dalal before the court. Additionally, the court permitted Dalal’s defence advocate to meet him in police custody for two hours daily.
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Questioning on extracted data
In their remand application, the police reiterated the complaint details and arrest sequence of Dalal in Uttarakhand. However, they expressed concern over Dalal’s evasive responses during questioning, particularly regarding his activities in the USA and UAE. This was cited as one of twelve reasons for requesting an extended remand. Additionally, data from two of Dalal’s mobile phones has been extracted, and he is currently being interrogated based on this evidence.
List of assets
“We’ve made progress in obtaining information about the accused and their family’s assets, both movable and immovable. To ensure their security, we’ve contacted the Sub Registrar of Assurances to verify property details. Additionally, we’ve sent a verification letter to the RTO regarding automobiles. We’ve also requested the suburban collector to appoint a competent officer to investigate and secure properties acquired from illicit sources,” the police stated in the remand application.
“Also, we have written/emailed to NSDL (National Securities Depository Ltd), CDSL (Central Depository Services Limited) and MCX (Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited) seeking information about the accused trading in commodity, stock exchange, and details of his Demat account. We are still awaiting a revert from them. To extract the Income Tax details of Amber Dalal and M/s Ritz Consultancy, we have written to the Income Tax department,” said the police.
Evasive reply
The police said that the accused was evasive when questioned about investments made with depositor funds, attempted to mislead the investigation, and was non-cooperative regarding overseas investments. Additionally, the accused avoided inquiries about personal and company bank accounts, ledger, balance sheet, etc.
Other side
Advocate Benny Joseph, who represents Amber Dalal, said, “We have been granted permission by the court to meet my client every day (till he is in police custody) for two hours from 4 pm to 6 pm.”
When asked to elaborate on his client, Advocate Joseph said, “Adhering to advocates’ professional ethics, I would refrain from making any further statement, at this point in time”
Rs 579cr
Amount invested with Amber Dalal
Issues of concern
1. It has transpired in the investigation so far that the accused has accepted deposits from 628 investors to the tune of R579 crore and the number of depositors is likely to go up.
2. The data extracted from the mobile handset of the accused and documents seized from the office of the accused need to be corroborated in the presence of the accused and his office staff.
3. The data extracted from the office server and Network Attached Storage (NAS) need to be used for questioning the accused
4. Out of six staffers, the accused had given a laptop to five of them, and they need to be questioned in the presence of the accused about the data in the laptop
5. The accused has returned to certain depositors’ huge money in one go, we need to inquire about the same
6. The accused has not shared any information about his moveable and immovable assets including bank details overseas.
7. The arrested accused has not revealed the names of the middlemen and agents who would lure the depositors
8. We have the Call Details Records (CDR) records of the mobile numbers used by the accused, and have found some international numbers. Also, a SIM card of the USA and Dubai has been recovered and the accused needs to be questioned on the same.
9. The accused had availed the service of Bharat Shah for filing GST returns in the name of the accused and his company Ritz Consultancy. Shah has claimed that only three bills were issued to him by the accused for filing GST returns, and we need to question both Shah and the accused on the same
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