MUMBAI: The special MPID court rejected the anticipatory bail application of a 27-year-old woman employee of Dream Sunshine Digital Pvt. Ltd., in a case involving an alleged financial fraud of ₹65.98 crore affecting more than 10,000 investors.Designated Judge Vikram R. Jagdale, by an order dated September 28, rejected the plea of Yogini Rajesh Shirke, who is accused in an EOW case registered under BNS sections of cheating and criminal breach of trust and Sections 3 and 4 of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act.The case pertains to a cheating case registered with the Mankhurd police where a group of people who under promise of giving 5% interest on the investment, collected Rs 5.13 crores from more than 125 persons and duped them. During the course of investigations it transpired that the number of victims were more than 3,000 and the amount involved was around Rs 100 crores and the case was transferred to EOW. Police have booked the firm’s proprietor Amanat Ali Ansari, his partners Rahim Ansari, Ali Ansari and Nayeem Sarvar and Yogini Shirke.The defence contended that Shirke was a receptionist and an investor of ₹14 lakh; however, this appears to be a tactic to delay proceedings and multiple accused parties are attempting to present themselves as victims.But she also received 1.20 lakh in her personal accounts and she is a close aide to prime accused Amanat Ansari who is on the run. Prosecution argued that Shirke, along with other accused, allegedly explained the investment scheme to investors, induced them to invest by promising attractive returns and collected money on behalf of the company’s directors. The court noted that nine witnesses had stated that Shirke explained the scheme to them.The investigation further found that ₹48 lakh was credited to her bank account and ₹69 lakh to her another bank account, with the money subsequently transferred to the company’s account.Shirke’s lawyer argued that she was only an employee who initially worked as a receptionist and was later promoted to HR. She claimed she was herself a victim and had invested ₹14 lakh in the company after taking loans from two banks. She also claimed that she had not personally benefited from the investors’ money.“We argued that Shirke had allegedly accepted money from investors despite being employed as a receptionist and had received funds in her personal bank accounts before transferring them to the company. The court also noted that three other accused were absconding and that the investigation into the alleged fraud was still underway and hence her ABA should be rejected ‘’ said intervenor advocate Shane Ilahi.The court held that custodial interrogation was necessary to trace the money trail and observed that granting anticipatory bail could impede the investigation. It consequently rejected her anticipatory bail application. Earlier the court has rejected the bail of Naeem Sarvar.
