Mumbai, Sep 14: Wearing a wig to hide his identity and living under three different aliases, a 56-year-old conman who allegedly duped investors of more than Rs 30 crore through a stock market scam has been arrested from Gujarat, an official said on Monday.
The accused, Roshan Bhushan Sheth, funded a lavish lifestyle of luxury flats, high-end cars, and expensive watches through the fraud, luring 42 victims across Maharashtra and Gujarat with promises of 5 per cent monthly returns on investments, the official from the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) said.
The EOW arrested Sheth from a residential building in Gujarat's Valsad in July, he said.
According to the probe agency, Sheth circulated fabricated profit statements to convince investors that their funds were traded in the stock market. While the principal investment collected stands at around Rs 5 crore, the total loss reported by victims, including an NRI woman, is approximately Rs 30.26 crore.
The fraud came to light when Kandivali resident Sanjay Hiralal Shah (60) approached Mumbai Police Commissioner Deven Bharti in April, alleging his family was conned of Rs 10.81 crore.
Investigations found that Sheth originally befriended Shah’s software engineer son in 2020 under the pretext of developing a trading app named 'Investok'. He allegedly persuaded the family to invest heavily, and used a similar pitch to lure other investors, showing them manipulated Excel sheets during meetings at his Sion and Matunga apartments.
To sustain the fraud, he paid around Rs 3.8 crore in small "profit" instalments before halting all payments in December 2025 and vanishing in April, the official said.
Following technical surveillance, an EOW team tracked Sheth to a residential building in Valsad. Officers laid a three-day stakeout and arrested him after gaining entry into his apartment disguised as housekeeping staff.
Police discovered that Sheth had used three identities over time — Jayesh Hasmukhbhai Shah in his youth, Rahul Atulbhai Parekh while he was in Delhi, and Roshan Bhushan Sheth in Mumbai.
Authorities have seized a BMW, a Mercedes, a Mahindra Thar, 14 luxury watches, gold ornaments worth Rs 1.67 crore, and Rs 17 lakh in cash, besides attaching three residential properties, the official said.
He said that a chargesheet filed on September 1 names 37 witnesses, including salon staff who maintained Sheth's wig, helping police verify his identity. The EOW has urged remaining victims to come forward with details of their investments.
