The Bombay city Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on 29th April arrested TV actor Anuj Saxena, who is the chief operating officer (COO) of Elder Pharmaceuticals, for allegedly duping 20,000 depositors of Rs. 141 crore. The police have frozen several bank accounts of the firm, which have around Rs. 250 crore in them. Some properties of the accused have also been attached. An officer said, “The cheating amount in the FIR is around Rs. 8.5 crore. However, as per bank records, investors have deposited around Rs. 141 crore.” Anuj was sent to the EOW’s custody till May 3.
The complainant said that the company had accepted deposits from the gullible public in 2012 by promising lucrative interest. The company stopped responding to queries from depositors once the deposits matured in 2015. The money was not returned to the depositors.
The FIR was registered under various sections of the IPC for cheating and criminal conspiracy. Sections of the stringent Maharashtra Protection of Interest Depositors Act, 1999 were also invoked.