The investors used a mobile application called DIFM (Do It For Me). Mehta’s wife Shivangi has been granted bail in the case earlier (Archive)The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday granted bail to the owner of stockbroking firm Bliss Consultants, Ashesh Shailesh Mehta, in an alleged case of cheating in Dhanera police station of Banaskantha in connection with a multi-crore investment case. The FIR in the said case was lodged in August 2023 although Mehta, as of now, is lodged in Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail in the case of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Maharashtra Police. His counsel informed the court that his assets worth Rs 171 crore have been attached by special Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) court.Considering the submissions of Mehta’s counsel — Advocate Deshal Modi — Justice MR Mengdey of the Gujarat High Court granted bail to Mehta on Tuesday.The oral order of the court said, “From the record it appears that the investigation is over and chargesheet has been filed. The present applicant has been arrested in connection with the present offence on March 13, 2024 and since then he is in custody… On the basis of those promises, the (complainant) had invested the amount of Rs 1,03,00,000/- in the said scheme. Similarly, the other victims had also invested their money. The total amount involved in the present offence is around Rs 171 crore. The record indicates that all the assets of the present applicant have been seized, which comes to around Rs 171 crore. Considering the same, the application deserves consideration.”Advocate Modi told The Indian Express, “Mehta and his wife Shivangi were victims of cheating committed by a shell company, which is an accounting firm, that they were associated with… In June 2023, while they were called by the Madhya Pradesh police for a statement in an NDPS (Narcotics Drugs & Psychotropic Substances) case against a third party, who they do not know, there was a false arbitration that came about in Khed (a town in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri), involving the shell company, in which Rs 160 crore of their money was freezed in a private bank account. As the panic spread about the NDPS case, investors sought their money back and the couple returned Rs 60 crore back to investors but before they could return the rest of the sum of Rs 110 crore, their bank account had been freezed.”Modi added that a series of FIRs followed against the couple in Maharashtra as well as three FIRs in Gujarat — in Ranip and Chandkheda in Ahmedabad and in Dhanera in Banaskantha. Modi said, “The applicant (Mehta) has been granted bail in the Ranip and Chandkheda cases even though Dhanera was the first FIR in Gujarat. Now, he has been granted bail in all three cases but will remain lodged at Arthur Road jail due to the EOW case… We informed the court that the MPID court has attached assets worth Rs 171 crore and the Deputy Collector of Kurla (in Mumbai) has been appointed to oversee the process by which they can return the money to their investors.”The Dhanera case was lodged by an investor of Bliss Consultants against a sum of Rs 1.3 crore, alleging it belonged to him and his relatives. As the prosecution’s case, Bliss Consultants had promised a 70% profit return on investments with about 4% interest to be earned per month. The investors used a mobile application called DIFM (Do It For Me). Mehta’s wife Shivangi has been granted bail in the case earlier.Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd