₹2,043 crore DSK investor scam: EOW files 37,000-page chargesheet

The economic offences wing (EOW) of Pune police on Thursday submitted a 37,000-page chargesheet against jailed real estate developer DS Kulkarni, popularly known as DSK, and his wife Hemanti before the court of special judge JT Utpat in connection with the ₹2,043 crores investor fraud.

Addressing a press conference at the Pune police commissionerate on Thursday, Sudhir Hiremath, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), EOW and cyber, said that the chargesheet includes details related to the quantum of the fraud.

The chargesheet reads that the accused floated nine companies which were used to siphon the funds collected from 33,000 investors who were promised good returns on their fixed deposits (FD).

The multi-crore case includes deposit and loan fraud of ₹1,083.7 crores, banking and non-financial institutions ( ₹711.36 crores), debentures ( ₹111.35 crore) and Phursungi land fraud ( ₹136.77 crores).

The document lists the role of six nationalised banks and their officials under the scanner of EOW for sanctioning loans without conducting due diligence and violations/non-adherence of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) directives/guidelines. The role of officials of these nationalised banks is probed in connection with the ₹711 crores fraud.

The chargesheet was submitted before the court by EOW officials led by Nilesh More, assistant commissioner of police (ACP) economic offences wing (EOW) under the guidance of DCP Hiremath. The police used four vans to carry the chargesheet which had taken seven days for printing and binding. Five copies of the chargesheet were prepared by the EOW sleuths as part of their investigation.

“Till date, we have found a fraud estimated to be worth ₹2,043.18 crores and six accused have been arrested so far. The scam was engineered with the motive of cheating the depositors and is part of a well-organised conspiracy against the investors. The chargesheet contains documentary evidence and reveals the large ramifications of the scam,” DCP Hiremath said.

Special public prosecutor Pravin Chavan said that the role of bank officials was suspicious as they had granted loan without checking the basic mandatory details of income tax filing. “We have been able to uncover four layers of the scam so far. The money flow experts have also been roped in to track the money trail. Details of nationalised banks giving loans to non-performing assets’ (NPA) accounts have emerged. We have recovered catering, sari and even milk bills during out investigation. DSK Kulkarni also used the group’s employees to cheat the depositors,” he said.

The DSK couple was booked for cheating and criminal breach of trust at Shivajinagar police station following the complaint from investors. The Kulkarnis were booked under Sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 3 and 4 of Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act.