PUNE: An investment scam worth ₹300 crore has come to light in Pune wherein an investment firm defrauded 200 borrowers of approximately ₹300 crores. An FIR has been registered under Section 3 of the Maharashtra Depositors' Interests Protection Act 1999 along with IPC 420, 406, 34 at the Bund Garden Police Station.  This incident took place between August 2020 and November 2022 at Ashtavinayak Investment in the camp area of Pune.

An FIR has been registered against one Selvakumar Nadar, a resident of 302, Kumar Prithvi Apartment, Kondhwa Khurd as well as his own borrowers. One Sachin Purushottam Pawar (38), a resident of Lohgaon, Wagholi Road has filed a complaint in this matter.  

According to the police, the accused Selvakumar Nadar had a company, Ashtavinayak Investments, located at the Nucleus Mall in Camp, Pune. He allegedly colluded with his office staff and informed investors about the investment scheme. The offered them a lure of making a profit if they invested.  After gaining the trust of the plaintiff, Pawar, he took out a personal loan in his name.

The loan amount that was collected under Pawar's name — and invested in his own company Ashtavinayak Investments in the form of deposits — was an approximate amount of ₹40.90 lakhs. After which, another ₹15 lakh loan was approved through Bajaj Finance.  

The installment amount of the loan till 2022 was sent to Pawar's account.  Since January 2023, installments of overdue loans have not been paid.Also, ₹2.80 lakhs invested by him in SIP was also not returned to him. Along with him, 16 other 'borrowers' defrauded the investors of ₹7.23 crores. All of them had filed a complaint with the Economic Offence Wing (EOW).

When the police investigated This matter, it came to light that a total of 200 borrowers were defrauded of more than ₹300 crores.  

A further in-depth investigation is being conducted by Assistant Police Inspector Vairagkar of Economic Offence Wing.