A complaint of cheating has been lodged against bollywood celebrity Shilpa Shetty, her husband Raj Kundra and officials of Satyug Gold Private Limited (SGPL), namely, Ganpati Chaudhary, Mohammed Saifi and others for allegedly defrauding an investor regarding a gold purchase scheme, the city police said on March 05, 2020. Kundra, however, gave a statement late evening, denying the charges.
Sachin Joshi, a non-resident Indian (NRI), approached the Khar police recently with a complaint that he was cheated by SGPL, a gold trading company formerly headed by the couple, an official said.
According to the complainant, he took part in a transaction and purchased nearly a kilo of gold for Rs 18.58 lakh from thecompany by means of a gold scheme in March 2014, he said.Under the formulated five-year plan, the buyer was offered a gold card at a discounted rate and was also promised a certain quantity of gold which would be redeemable at the end of the term, he said.
Joshi's term plan ended on March 25, 2019, and when he tried to redeem the card, he found that the company's office,which was supposedly located, at Bandra Kurla Complex had shut down. The SGPL website showed a new office address, at Shalimar Morya Park in Andheri west, but when Joshi's team visited the new office, they were informed that the addressed did not belong to SGPL.
Feeling dejected and cheated, Joshi lodged the complaint against them, the official said, adding that as of now, no FIR has been filed and investigations are underway.
When contacted, an official of Khar Police Station told that "the complaint is currently under investigation" but declined to elaborate.
As per Kundra's statements at the 'gold dream' launch, an investor who would buy a certain sum of gold at the then current rates provided the full advance payment, he would be entitled to a Satyug Gold Card, which is redeemable in stages with attractive discounts - 15 per cent after two years, 26 per cent after three years, 30 per cent after four years and 37 per cent after five years.
Further research revealed that many more office addresses located of SGPL at Andheri east, Malad West and Andheri West, but again he encountered the same reply that these addresses did not belong to SGPL. Furthermore, the company's help-desk and customer care numbers (18002679090) also provided no response, Joshi said.
In November 2019, Joshi's representative happened to meet one of the officials at the Malad West address who said that it was not possible to redeem the claim as the company was processing multiple claims, and asked him to return in December 2019.
A search on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) website pertaining to the company revealed even more shocking details: that Shetty and Kundra had resigned as the company directors in May 2016 and November 2017 respectively.
"It became clear from all these facts that SGPL was a fraudulent entity being used to run the fake 'Satyug Gold Scheme' using the name of celebs like Shilpa Shetty. I have suffered a loss of Rs 18.58 lakh on my gold investment," Joshi said.
Sources from the gold industry stated that many more such investors have been lured by SGPL and only via a detailed police investigation, the whole scam would be revealed.
SGPL was formerly known as Avyaan Gems & Jewellery Pvt Ltd with its offices in Bandra Kurla Complex.
Author Devansh Dev
