Police today issued lookout notices against former world billiards champion Michael Ferreira and four others in the Rs 425-crore scam allegedly spearheaded by a multi-level marketing firm for which nine persons have already been arrested.
Ferreira, 75, has been linked to QNet, the firm at the centre of the scam in which thousands of investors had been allegedly duped. Besides him, notices have been issued against QNET founder Vijay Eswaran and his three business associates.
The police action comes after they failed to appear before investigators for questioning.
"The lookout notices were issued against Ferreira, Eswaran, three business associates, including Dev Wadhwani and Sachin Gupta, in connection with the QNet case. We had summoned them for questioning but none of them turned up," a senior police officer told PTI.
In the second week of December, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the police had served summons to Ferreira, directing him to appear before them and explain his association with the scam-hit company, in which he claimed to hold shares.
The four others, including Eswaran, an Indian origin Malaysian citizen, were also asked to appear for questioning, police added.
EOW has arrested nine team leaders of QNet so far for allegedly duping investors by selling products like magnetic disks, herbal products and holiday schemes through fraudulent practices. The scam amount has been pegged at Rs 425 crore.
QNet has also been accused of using the banned binary pyramid business model for their multi-level marketing (MLM) schemes to entice investors. The accused were charged with cheating and forgery under relevant sections of the Prize, Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978.
The company has denied defrauding investors.
The lookout notice is a circular issued against a person when he/she is wanted by police either for questioning or for the purpose of arrest in any case.
It is circulated at all immigration checks at international borders (like airports/sea ports) and as soon as the person is spotted, the authorities concerned are notified.
