Torres Jewellery investment scheme goes bust in Mumbai

Mumbai Police have booked top executives of Torres Jewellery House for allegedly cheating investors of crores of rupees in schemes it had floated, even as panicky investors gathered outside at least two of its showrooms on Monday to demand money they were owed, according to a report in Hindustan Times.

Police have registered cases against five executives of the jewellery store, which has showrooms in Dadar, Grant Road, Mira Road, Vashi and Kalyan. The store has, however, uploaded a message on its website, claiming that its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tausif Reyaz was responsible for “robbing and vandalizing the stores, and looting jewellery and cash” along with other employees.

According to the Shivaji Park police,  investors started gathering outside the Dadar store located near Kohinoor Square on Monday as they had stopped receiving weekly payouts from Torres Jewellery House, which had launched various investment schemes, including what appeared to be a pyramid scheme.

“Until now, we have found that the fraud amounts to ₹13.48 crore. However, we expect the sum to be much higher as they had five stores in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR),” said the police officer.

The APMC Police in Vashi said around 43 investors had approached them, as one store is located in Sanpada in Navi Mumbai. They said they were in the process of registering a case against the store owners. Similarly, police in Mira Road were also in the process of registering offences against the accused as investors had assembled outside the store here as well.