Surat industrialist held in Rs 8.5-crore pharma raw material fraud case

Ahmedabad, Sep 25 (IANS) The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Ahmedabad Police has arrested a Surat-based industrialist, Vikas Sharma, in connection with a pharmaceutical raw material fraud worth Rs 8.5 crore. According to ACP of the EOW, Sharma had been trading in pharmaceutical raw materials with complainant Sagar Desai for the past two to three years.

To win Desai’s trust, Sharma initially cleared payments on time before defaulting on consignments worth crores. Police said that after ordering raw materials valued at around Rs 8.5 crore, Sharma began issuing cheques that later bounced.

Despite repeated follow-ups by the complainant, Sharma failed to settle the dues. Investigations revealed that Sharma has a history of financial crimes. He already faces four cases in Maharashtra and another at Ahmedabad EOW.

He was even in judicial custody at Central Jail when he was formally arrested in this case. ACP (EOW) confirmed that Sharma has been booked and will be produced before a local court for remand.

Police are now tracing the money trail and probing the possible involvement of other associates in the fraud. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in Gujarat plays a crucial role in investigating and curbing white-collar crimes such as large-scale financial frauds, ponzi schemes, bank scams, cyber-enabled economic crimes, and corporate irregularities.

Working under the state police, the EOW tracks money trails, probes fraudulent companies, and takes action against economic offenders involved in cheating, forgery, and misappropriation of funds.

By coordinating with regulatory bodies and financial institutions, the wing not only cracks down on scams but also safeguards investors’ and citizens’ interests, ensuring accountability in Gujarat’s fast-growing industrial and financial ecosystem.

In recent years, Gujarat’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has cracked several major financial crime cases, including the Rs 2,700 crore GST input tax credit scam involving over 1,500 shell companies, a multi-city probe into bogus ITC claims using more than 200 fake firms, a Rs 12 crore corruption scandal in Navsari’s water supply schemes that led to the arrest of 11 officials, and a land forgery racket in Ahmedabad where three accused used dummy accounts and fake documents to usurp property.

These cases underline the EOW’s critical role in exposing large-scale fraud, corruption, and white-collar crimes across the state.

--IANS

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