Ashtavinayak investment scam: After one year, ₹300-crore fraud mastermind remains elusive

The Pune city police are still groping in the dark to find clues and nab Selva Kumar Nadar, the owner of Ashtavinayak Investments, accused of cheating over 200 individuals of ₹300 crore and on the run since February 22, 2023.

The police began the probe after a complaint was filed on February 23 by Sachin Purshottam Pawar who worked at a multinational banking company and resided at Karmabhuminagar in Lohegaon. A group of victims approached the Bund Garden Police Station and registered their complaints the next day.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Pune city police booked Nadar on March 17, 2023.

The accused picked high-income individuals mostly working in the IT industry, EOW officials said.

According to the complainants, Nadar promised low-interest loans or transfer of existing loans before luring lured them into a “loan investment scheme” where personal loans from banks and financial institutions were taken out in their name and invested in Nadar’s firms with alleged dealings in gold, hospitality, hostels and financial markets with the promise of high returns.

Nadar ran the firm Ashtavinayak Investments from its office at Nucleus Mall in Camp before abruptly closing it and disappearing without a trace leaving investors to face banks who are seeking loan repayments, and drop in CIBIL scores.

However, the diligent efforts by the police seem to meet a dead end as the fraudster continues to evade capture. Complainants allege that police are unable to crack the case.

Vikrant Deshmukh, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), EOW said, “Our teams are restlessly working to find the whereabouts of the prime accused. Till date, we have seized his property worth ₹5 crore.”

Investigating officer and assistant police inspector Mayoor Vairagkar said, “We have arrested three suspects in the case. As giving more details will affect our investigation, I can only state that we are very close to nab the prime accused. We have registered statements of over 90 investors out of total 265 besides getting transaction details from banks.”

According to the police, Prasad Deepak Shinde, Ajay Kailas Khadse, Nitin Gajanan Shinde, Selvakumar Jyothisigmani Nadar, Sneha Selvakumar Nadar, Pranay Atul Mehta, Mangesh Mohan Newase, Nikhil Ravindra Mahamuni were made accused in the charge sheet filed in the court.

According to Pawar, Shabana Mulani, Nadar’s close friend who handles his office, has not been arrested.

Lawyer Abhijit Doiphode, who represents the victims in the case, said the police have failed to identify money trails in the case. During investigation it was revealed how staffers and top officials of 28 private and government banks were helping Nadar to get loans even after he produced fake documents of the victim.

“There are 28 banks involved in the scam and not one bank official has been arrested yet?” he said.

According to the police, Prashant Ranjan, who was duped of ₹1,17,50,000 by Nadar, died by suicide by jumping off from the building of Yin Yang housing society on July 13, 2023. Meanwhile, the relentless pursuit of justice for the victims of Nadar’s deceit continues.