Speak Asia case accused remanded in police custody till Aug 12

MUMBAI: A local court on Thursday remanded the five accused arrested in connection with Speak Asia's multi-level marketing scam in police custody till August 12.

The city police had recently arrested Speak Asia's Chief Operating Officer in India (COO) Tarak Bajpai, Financial Manager Ravi Khanna, the web portal's technicians, Rajeev Malhotra and Rais Khan and panelist Deepankar Sarkar.

Speak Asia had promised lucrative returns through a multi-marketing pyramid model. The firm allegedly duped over 12 lakh investors, also called as panelists to the tune of Rs 1300 crore, by assuring them commission if they introduced new members.

The police today told the court that they want to recover the money that the accused had syphoned off after duping the investors. The police also said that some more arrests were likely in the case.

The police also said that they have frozen 35 bank accounts belonging to the company which reportedly have funds worth about Rs 130 crore.