Torres handling social media accounts, CCTV server from abroad: EOW

Torres has been posting photos, videos and CCTV videos of their employees—CEO Mohamed Tausif Reyaz alias John Carter, director Survesh Surve and accountant head Abhishek Gupta—their Instagram account and website, claiming they are the ones responsible for the fraud, robbery and rioting at their stores. They also put posters of Reyaz and Gupta on these platforms, announcing a reward of Rs 2 lakh for anyone who can furnish information about them.

All these three people claimed themselves the whistleblowers of the case. While Surve was arrested by the Shivaji Park police, Reyaz is wanted and Gupta has voluntarily approached police and extended help. He claimed that he had prepared and submitted an audit report to the company management on December 26 and seeing them winding up, he, along with Surve and Reyaz, wrote emails to authorities.
The alleged whistleblowers have also said that the CCTV network of the Torres has a server in Lower Parel office and was being handled from foreign soil, mostly from Ukraine.

A senior officer from the Economic Offences Wing said they too suspect that the accused company is handling their social media accounts from abroad and are investigating in this direction.

The Torres company has so far sent only an email and no senior functionary or director from the company has approached the police clarifying facts against the allegations or explaining the company’s business operations and revenue model.

EOW turned blind eye to Dharavi social activist’s complaint

Dharavi-based social activist Shashikant Kawale said he had filed a complaint with the EOW regarding the alleged irregularities at Torres offices in October 2024.

“I told them that the government takes seven years to double investor’s money, how could this company double the money in just 13 months?

I met inquiry officer and in-charge of the crime branch control unit and told them that it’s a big fraud and police must inquire deep into it. I also told them that in the first week of January, the fraudsters may escape. However, I received information that no action was taken against the culprits,” said Kawale.

The activist also said he had also informed Shivaji Park police about the matter, but they too did not take his complaint seriously. Shivaji Park police is already being criticised for not acting on the information regarding the alleged fraud by Torres in June last year.

When contacted, a senior EOW officer said the activist had approached EOW in December and assured that he would bring a few victims, who lost money in the scam, to report the matter, but he did not turn up again in EOW offices. Later, the officers got busy with the Christmas and New Year’s Eve police bandobast.

One Indian and two foreigners have been arrested by the Mumbai police in the case so far and 11 more foreigners, mostly Ukrainians, have been named as accused in the case. According to the EOW, so far nearly 3700 investors have approached police claiming they lost Rs 57 crore. The police, after carrying out searches, have seized valuables, including cash and jewellery worth around Rs 20 crore.

2 safes found in searches at Torres’s Kandivali office

Teams of the EOW searched the Kandivali office of Torres on Monday and seized gold worth Rs 14 lakh, silver worth Rs 21 lakh, some documents, vouchers given to investors, laptops, computers, pen drives, iPads among other items. Moreover, two large safes were also found in the office and they could not be opened. Police have contacted the manufacturer of the safes to help them open it, said sources in the police.