Kaustubh Chokshi, the director of Powai-based Sadhrta Retail Ltd, who had been arrested for allegedly duping over 1100 investors to the tune of over Rs 3 crore, is not an average white-collared criminal. He hails from a family of businessmen and holds a doctorate in Artificial Intelligence (AI) from the University of Sunderland (UK) and a degree in business management. Even as the Powai police are probing his alleged involvement in the scam, Chokshi has reportedly denied all the allgations against him and put blame on Sanjay Mehta, the company’s director (finance).

“Chokshi claimed that the ‘double your money within 20 days offer’ was conceptualised and executed by Mehta to revive the firm. According to him, Mehta’s two agents were responsible for snaring the investors and goading them into investing the maximum amount of money possible,” said Assistant Police Inspector S Waral.

Sadhrta— an e-commerce company that was nearing bankruptcy— had decided to launch an IPO to revive the company. Chokshi and his father Upen Chokshi also own Intelligence Business Systems (IBS), an IT company. Also, Chokshi had started another IT firm, Déjà vu Solutions, in January 2009.

In an investors update document that has been uploaded on Sadhrta’s website in September 2008, Chokshi writes, “Sadhrta Retail Pvt Ltd is Sadhrta Retail Ltd (SRL), a public limited company, with effect from September 2008, a great milestone for all of us. This is the first step required to take your company to the public with the forthcoming IPO.”

... contd.