Torres fraud: Accused moves HC to quash FIR

MUMBAI: Valentina Ganesh Kumar, an accused in the Torres Jewellery fraud, has moved the Bombay High Court to quash the First Information Report (FIR) in which she has been named, citing gross violation of due process for not being served a notice under Section 35 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023. Section 35 of the BNSS relates to the discretion of the police to make an arrest without a magisterial warrant. A division bench of Justice Sarang Kotwal and Justice Shriram Modak has posted the petition for hearing on March 19.

According to her plea, the Russian born 44-year-old Valentina, who has been living in India and is married with an 11-year-old daughter, was merely an employee at the Torres Jewellery store in Dadar since June 2024. It said she moonlighted as a translator since December 2023, before she was promoted as the store in-charge.

Valentine’s plea claimed she did not have a role in the financial transactions of the store, nor was she involved in promoting schemes and attracting investors. Her plea further claimed that she did not receive any monetary gain from the alleged fraudulent schemes.

Currently in judicial custody, Valentina has told the court through her lawyer Owais Pechkar that although she is named as an accused in only one of the many FIRs lodged with various police stations, she was required for investigation by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Valentina’s plea claimed that her indictment in the case is irrational and without any basis, and neither backed by any legal or logical explanation since she is neither a director, nor a promoter, or a beneficiary of the alleged investment schemes. She merely looked after housekeeping and stationery for the Dadar store, her plea stated.

She also argued that she cannot be held liable for any of the offences she has been charged with, including those relating to fraud under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, or those relating to the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act, 1999.