Dalal was arrested from Uttarakhand after being on the run for 12 days.
Mumbai:
A Mumbai-based investment advisor who was on the run for 12 days after duping over 600 investors of over Rs 380 crore has been arrested in Uttarakhand. His clients included many celebrities, including actors Annu Kapoor and Deepak Sharma.
Operating from the affluent Lokhandwala area in suburban Andheri, Ritz Consultancy Services owner Dalal promised investors returns of between 1.6% and 2% per month by investing their money in commodities. Several investors had entrusted him with amounts between Rs 5 lakh at the low end and several crores at the high end.
Sources in the Mumbai Police said he had been running the company for 15 years and had filed cases. WhatsNew2Day spoke to some of its clients, including Mr Kapoor and Mr Sharma, who said Dalal had consistently given them the returns even during the Covid period.
However, on March 14, Dalal went missing and his relatives also said they did not know where he was. His investors, many of whom are seniors who had entrusted him with their savings and depended on the interest on their investment to run their households, panicked. A number of investors have filed a police report.
Police sources said Dalal was traced to Dehradun in Uttarakhand from where he was arrested on Tuesday evening. “He was taken into custody and has been remanded in judicial custody,” said Sangramsingh Nishandar, deputy commissioner of police, Economic Offenses Wing.
‘Keep changing hotels’
While on the run for 12 days, Dalal took several steps to remain undetected. Sources say he is believed to have gone to other states before landing in Uttarakhand and changed hotels several times during that short period so that he would not be traced.
The sources said that since Dalal was active for a long time in Lokhandwala, which is home to several people from the film industry, he counted many celebrities among his clients. “Mr Kapoor and Mr Sharma are the only two famous faces to come forward so far, but there are many more,” an official said.
While investors hope to get at least their principal back after Dalal’s arrest, police have yet to determine what the money was actually used for. They also try to find out how he has managed to make the returns so far and the circumstances that led him to quit and try to disappear.
