Rs 10.87 crore fraud: ED seizes Rs 4 crore gold, silver from Gujarat's con stock market advisor

New Delhi, Jan 1 Several kilograms of gold and silver, worth over Rs 4 crore, were seized by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from Gujarat’s Mehsana district in connection with a stock market investment fraud, an official said on Thursday.

The ED, Ahmedabad Zonal Office, has recovered and seized silver bullion weighing 110 kg valuing Rs 2.4 crore; gold bullion weighing around 1.296 kg valuing Rs 1.7 crore, silver jewellery weighing 39.7 kg (approximately); Indian currency equivalent to Rs 38.8 lakh; foreign currencies equivalent to at least Rs 10.6 lakh and various property documents in the case of Himanshu alias Pintu Bhavsar and others, said an official in a statement.

The ED made the seizure in "fraudulent stock market investment fraud with common investors" under the provisions of the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, said the statement.

The ED initiated investigation on the basis of FIR registered by Kheralu Police station, district Mehsana, under various sections of Indian Penal Code, 1860 against Himanshu alias Pintu Bhavshar and others.

As per the FIR, the accused lured the complainant to invest money in the stock market to earn huge amount of profit and later, defrauded the complainant by not returning his investments.

The accused didn't invest the money of the complainant in any of the shares of any company and used it for personal gains. Later, during the investigation, it came to light that at least six more FIRs were registered by police in different states of India involving total fraud amount to the tune of Rs 10.87 crore.

It was revealed that mastermind Bhavsar along with other accused people opened a number of offices in Mehsana, Visnagar and Vadnagar for the purpose of alluring and getting funds from the common public in the name of investments in the stock market, the ED said.

They hired a number of employees to make regular phone calls to potential investors for obtaining funds for alleged investment in the stock market by luring them with higher returns.

During the investigation under the PMLA, it came to light that Himanshu Bharatkumar Bhavsar used Investment Advisor Certificate issued by SEBI in his individual capacity for the use of Vishwas Stocks Research Pvt. Ltd., Dalal Stocks Advisory Pvt. Ltd. and Devki Stocks Pvt. Ltd for their unregistered investment advisory activities, the ED said.

The three entities did not have any certificate of registration from SEBI to act as investment advisors and to fulfil this requirement tied up with Bhavsar.

The SEBI in its order, held Vishwas Stocks Research Pvt. Ltd., Dalal Stocks Advisory Pvt. Ltd. and Devki Stocks Pvt. Ltd and its Directors namely Himanshu Bharatkumar Bhavsar alias Pintu Bhavsar and others; responsible for violations/contravention committed by offering investment advisory.

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