BENGALURU: An additional city civil and sessions court on Wednesday sentenced Mohammed Idhrees, partner at Fosterfin Capital Management, to five years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 21 lakh for cheating a couple after inducing them to invest money in a ponzi scheme.
Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat passed the order while convicting Idhrees for offences punishable under IPC Section 420 and Section 9 of the Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments (KPIDFE) Act, 2004.
The complainant, Geetha, wife of Arun Kumar, had transferred Rs 20 lakh through RTGS to Idhrees’ account in 2013. He had lured them with the promise of 15 per cent interest, even before the firm was registered, and cheated them. Subsequently, he had also entered into a ‘Wealth Management Agreement’ in the name of his firm, Fosterfin Capital Management, through which he had agreed to share profit but did not do so. Noting that the important aspect of a socio-economic offence is to be considered from the point of view of harm it has caused society at large, the court awarded compensation of Rs 20.50 lakh to Geetha, out of the Rs 21 lakh fine imposed on the accused, and ordered that the remaining amount be forfeited to the state.
Submitting that the sole intention of enacting the KPIDFE Act was to punish cheats who defraud the public, Special Public Prosecutor K Anupama argued that economic offences are to be viewed very seriously and a stringent view is required to be taken by imposing maximum punishment. The court noted that the prosecution had also established his dishonest intention. The complaint was registered with Pulakeshi Nagar police station initially, and it was later transferred to CCB.