Ferreira, three others sent to 7-day police custody in QNet cheating case

Ferreira, Desai and two ex-directors of Vihaan Direct Selling India Pvt Ltd were arrested by the EOW

The Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) court on Wednesday sent the former billiards world champion Michael Ferreira and three others to seven-day of police custody in the QNet cheating case.

Ferreira, Malcolm Desai and two ex-directors of Vihaan Direct Selling India Pvt Ltd (sub-franchisee of QNet in India) were arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Thane Police on Tuesday and produced before the MPID court on Wednesday. The EOW sought seven days of custody to proceed with the investigation for allegedly cheating a chartered accountant of Rs 25,00,000 over three years ago. Allegedly, the accused lured the complainant with high returns on his investment but paid nothing in return.

With this, these officials were shifted from Taloja jail (where they are serving judicial custody after surrendering before the Bombay High Court in September 2016) to EOW, Thane.

"The alleged complaint in this new FIR is similar to the set of several complaints which have been received by EOW Mumbai in the past and have been treated as witness statements for the purpose of the Mumbai case. The latter case is more than three and half years old. At a juncture, when the officials and company have already been charge-sheeted (as on December 27, 2016), bringing up a new FIR dated December 14, 2016 seems stage managed by vested interests. In fact, the FIR relates to a complaint conforming to the year 2014," said a QNet spokesperson.

"Further, while there are about fifty similar complaints registered with EOW Mumbai in the past three and a half years, it is surprising to note that one particular FIR of December 2016 has been activated. While the company and officials are being investigated for the past three and a half years, the individuals against whom the complaints have been filed have not been investigated during this period," the QNet spokesperson alleged.