Hundreds in lurch after investor’s death

A victim says there is a scam worth Rs 16 crore

Mumbai: As the Torres jewelry fraud rages, another investment scam has come to the fore in Thane where an investor allegedly duped hundreds of people from Mumbai and elsewhere of crores of Rupees, before his death, one of the victims said here on Monday.

In December 2024, some of the victims had approached the Thane Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) Deputy Commissioner of Police Parag Manere who took immediate cognizance and ordered a preliminary probe before registering a FIR on January 8.

The duped persons got a shock when they learnt that their 'trusted' investor – Sameer Purushottam Hirlekar, aged around 53 – had died on December 4, leaving them in the lurch. The victims suspect that he allegedly ended his life.

Rattled by the abrupt development putting a question mark on their ‘investments’, one of them Vinay D. Kochrekar, 60, finally lodged the FIR with Thane Police which was already conducting the preliminary probe for a month.

“In my group of around two dozen, we have been cheated of several crores, and our guess is the scam may be worth around Rs 16-crores. The police are probing the true extent of the fraud. If more people come forward, the situation may be different,” said a victim, Tejas S. Phondke of Borivali.

Recounting the modus operandi adopted by Hirlekar, Phondke said that he, like others, started with a reference around two years ago.

Though initially skeptical, they slowly developed confidence in Hirlekar’s lucrative schemes, many inspired by catchy Bollywood names – '10 Ka Dum', 'Satte Pe Satta', 'Hum Paanch', 'Paanch Ka Paanch', 'Super 30', 'Classic Tally', 'Super Spectrum', 'Spectrum Symphony Tally', 'Dynamic' series, et al – each designed to give fabulous returns depending on the invested amount and tenure.

“Hirlekar appeared very transparent in his dealings with us, the promised returns were promptly transferred to our accounts at the end of the month. As we gained confidence, we invested more – I sunk in the entire savings for my wedding, and now this has happened,” rued Phondke, 27, an e-commerce trader.

During the advance probe, on December 10 an EOW police team raided Hirlekar’s home at Panchpakhadi in Thane, in the constituency of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

However, barring two small gold rings, the police came back empty-handed and now Hirlekar’s widow Prachi and a son Soham - both reportedly non-cooperative with the probe - have purportedly gone incommunicado, adding to the suspicions.

“The present status is that the prime accused is dead, the whereabouts and the involvement of his family is not known and many of us have lost our entire life-savings or retirement monies. The police said that they are still scanning all phone, bank records of the scamster for leads on the others possibly involved in the fraud,” said a dejected Phondke.

Hirlekar operated through his own bank Savings Account and barely six months ago he opened a Current Account for the transactions, adding to his reputation – which turned dubious after his death.

Hirlekar’s family could not be contacted for their response.