The police on Wednesday uncovered 18.931 kg gold and 2.3 kg silver collectively valued at Rs 5.72 crore following investigation of properties, lockers and banks of KBC company director Bhausaheb Chhabu Chavan.
Earlier in 2014, Chavan and his wife Arti allegedly lured investors by promising triple returns in three years and accumulated about '210 crore from 7,500 investors.
ACP (crime) Sachin Gore confirmed that the police was investigating Chavain, including his bank accounts. “Today, we discovered that the accused had taken a loan from Urban Bank with 4.966 kg gold valued at Rs 1.48 crore and have confiscated it,” Mr Gore said.
Police investigations have helped in recovering property worth Rs 80 crore so far. Farmers from Chandwad, Niphad and other drought-prone areas had invested heavily, along with many from Aurangabad and Parbhani.
Cases had been registered against the company in Marathwada, but investors in Nashik continued to invest in the scheme.
The police then raided Chavan’s office, True Life Marketing Co, in Bhabanagar area of Nashik city on the basis of an anonymous letter. After the scam was exposed in 2014, Chavan and Arti fled to Singapore but returned last week and were arrested in Mumbai airport. They are presently in police custody.
Other accused are Bapusaheb Chhabu Chavan, Pankaj Rajaram Shinde, Nitin Popatrao Shinde, Sanjay Wamanrao Jagtap, Nanasaheb Chhabu Chavan, Sadhana Bapu Chavan, Bharati Mandalik Shiledar and Kaushalya Sanjay Jagtap.
Meanwhile, a team of Aurangabad police came to Nashik and sealed the office. The police has arrested the alleged mastermind Deepak Jibhau Suryawanshi of Nashik.
The charges are that Suryawanshi created a network of agents and promised investors heavy returns on their investments. The police has also seized the hard disks and other files from the Nashik office, sources said.
