india

Updated: Oct 29, 2019 02:33 IST

The owners of Goodwin Jewellers were on Monday booked under the Maharashtra Protection of Interests of Depositors in Financial Establishments Act days after the firm shut its outlets in Thane, Palghar and Mumbai ahead of Diwali and left hundreds of investors in the lurch.

A process was underway to issue lookout notices against AM Sunilkumar and AM Sudheshkumar, the owners, to ensure that they do not flee the country, news agency PTI quoted senior inspector S P Aahera of Thane’s Dombivali police station as saying.

The owners, who have been untraceable since the outlets were shut last week, were booked on a day when they released a video purportedly showing them assuring their customers that they will return their money.

The video went viral as investors gathered outside the closed outlets in Thane and Palghar seeking a refund of their investments. The two are purportedly heard assuring the investors that they have not run away and urging them to have “faith” in them.

The two purportedly cite some financial difficulties and say they are trying their best to overcome them while insisting that they would be unable to raise the funds if they are arrested now.

“We are examining the video,” PTI quoted Aahera as saying.

The news agency quoted an unnamed police official as saying that several people had kept their gold with the jewellers and invested in their fixed deposit and investment schemes. He added they found the outlets shut during the festival season when they were expecting disbursal of some of the promised returns.

Another unnamed police official said the case may be transferred to Thane Police’s Economic Offences Wing as the fraud could be running into crores.

The two were booked under the MPID Act as people thronged police stations to lodge complaints against them. “We have sealed a shop of Goodwin jewellers in Vasai. We have invoked provisions of MPID Act against the owners as hundreds of investors have been affected,” said Manickpur police station’s assistant inspector Sudhir Zahirkar.