ABC Cotspin cheated of Rs 5 crore

Ahmedabad: the promoter of ABC Cotspin Private Limited on Thursday filed a complaint for breach of trust and cheating against a Mumbai-based company, alleging that the company’s representatives had promised an assured settlement of Rs 18 crore with an international shipping firm, but ended up duping them of Rs 4.98 crore.

In his FIR with Navrangpura police, Ashwin Patel, 34, states that he runs ABC Cotspin from its office on CG Road in the city. Another promoter of this company was Ashish Jobanputra, against whom the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been conducting an inquiry for money laundering and bank fraud worth Rs 804 crore.

Patel said his company used to export their stock through the United Arab Shipping company. In 2015, the company’s stock was kept lying with the shipping company for a long time as the recipient did not collect it. As the stock was with the shipping company for a long time, ABC Cotspin was liable to pay Rs 18 crore as detention charge to the United Arab Shipping Company, the FIR states.

At that time, the director of Mumbai-based Rushabh Sealink Private Limited, Vishal Mehta, who already knew Patel, approached him and said that he had contacts in the United Arab Shipping company and would help Patel lower the detention charge. For this, Mehta asked for a commission and offered him a deal in which he would pay Rs 11.82 crore to Rushabh Sealink which included the payment for the United Arab Shipping company.

Patel paid Rs 8.60 crore to Rushabh Sealink, Rs 7.90 crore through RTGS and Rs 70 lakh in cash. Patel was yet to pay more money to Rushabh Sealink, but as ABC Cotspin did not have it, they transferred property worth Rs 3.70 crore — including a flat in Ghatkopar belonging to Jobanputra’s mother Chanda’s and a bunglaow in Lonavala which belonged to Jobanputra’s wife Priti — to Rushabh Sealink.

With this, ABC Cotspin paid Rs 12.30 crore to Rushabh Sealink. Even after that, the settlement could be done between ABC Cotspin and United Arab Shipping. Whenever Patel enquired with Mehta, he told Patel that they would soon finalise a settlement. As Patel doubted Mehta’s assurances, he enquired with United Arab Shipping and found that only Rs 7.35 core were paid and Rs 4.35 crore, which was paid to Mehta by Patel, had not been paid to the shipping company. Patel then approached Navrangpura police and filed a complaint for cheating and breach of trust.