Legal Battle Unfolds
A court on Tuesday extended till April 19 the police custody of cricketer siblings Hardik and Krunal Pandya’s stepbrother Vaibhav, who is accused of cheating them of Rs 4 crore through a joint business venture. The accused, Vaibhav Pandya, was produced before a magistrate court after his previous remand expired. Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) requested the court to extend Vaibhav’s custody for further investigation. As Vaibhav’s lawyer Niranjan Mundargi didn’t oppose the EOW plea, the court extended his custody till Friday.
The Allegations
Vaibhav, 37, was arrested on April 8 on the charges of criminal breach of trust, criminal intimidation, criminal conspiracy, forgery and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly cheating the cricketer brothers to the tune of more than Rs 4 crore.
Earlier, Vaibhav had told the court that ‘it was a family matter and the case has been filed due to misunderstanding’.
Business Partners Turned Foes
The cricketer brothers along with Vaibhav had set up a partnership-based firm in Mumbai and started a polymer business in 2021, as per police.
The siblings invested 40 per cent each as per the partnership terms of the venture and Vaibhav the rest 20 per cent of the capital. As per the terms, Vaibhav was supposed to handle the daily operations of the business and the profits to be distributed in the same ratio, police had said.
Breach of Trust
It is alleged that Vaibhav set up another firm dealing in the same business without informing the Pandya brothers, thus violating the partnership agreement.
With a new company being set up, the profits of the original partnership firm allegedly dwindled causing a loss of about Rs 3 crore.
During this period, Vaibhav allegedly increased his own profit by 20 to 33 per cent and caused loss to Hardik Pandya and his brother. Vaibhav allegedly also diverted funds from the partnership account to his own, which is around Rs 1 crore. PTI AVI NSK
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