Goyal, who has been accused of duping his investors of over Rs 210 crore, was taken into custody by the Borivli police after his application for anticipatory bail was rejected by Additional Session Judge Abhay Thipsay.

The plantation scam came to light following a complaint filed by two investors. In their complaint with the Borivli police, Chittar Singh, former general manager of Oil and Natural Gas Commission and his advocate son Anant Singh claimed to have invested Rs one lakh in Arrow Global lured by an assured return ranging between 24 to 10,000 per cent in 21 schemes.

Singh, however, got wise to the scam when most of the 28 post-dated cheques Arrow Global issued in his name bounced. When he tried to meet Goyal, the MD evaded him.

Meanwhile, Singh learntthat over 43,301 persons had invested in the schemes floated by Arrow Global. When the hapless investors became aware of the scam, several criminal complaints were lodged against the company with the Economic Offences Wing of the crime branch, Thane crime branch, MIDC and Andheri police stations.

On October 16, the Borivli police arrested Rajesh Agarwal, the agent who had sold the scheme to Singh. Anil Dalvi, one of the directors of Arrow Global, was also arrested. While the duo's bail applications were rejected, another director Dinesh Arya was made the prosecution witness.

Goyal had moved the sessions court for bail and the Bombay High Court for quashing the first information report (FIR) filed against him at the Borivli police station. The high court dismissed his plea. Rejecting Goyal's bail application, Judge Thipsay held that a prima facie case of cheating existed against him as he had promised unrealistically high returns to his investors. According to the Borivli police, the company directors andtheir relatives had misused the investors' money to buy properties.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India had also filed a writ petition against the company after the board received several complaints. The high court has now directed the company to sell its properties and repay its investors. An inspection by the Registrar of Companies had revealed that the Arrow Global had failed to file any documents since the date of its incorporation in May 8, 1995.