Police clueless about major conman

According to some of the investors, Srivatsava, who was a major in the EME, took voluntary retirement in 1991 and opened shop. He lured former colleagues and retired personnel with high interest returns (24 per cent). Slowly he built his investor base and later diversified into other businesses.

A native of Deora district in Uttar Pradesh, Srivatsava started Elite Global Finance, Sarvatra Builders Ltd, Elite Restaurant, Elite Dairy Farm andElite Automobiles subsequently and in almost all the firms his wife Nimmi Srivatsava and his sons and nephews were involved.

His Sarvatra Builders went public in May 1996 with an equity base of Rs 5.25 crore.

Vinod Kumar, a retired army officer, whose family has invested about Rs 2.25 lakh, said that the fixed deposits with the company crossed Rs 30 crore.

“Even his 80-odd staff members could not smell a rat. Last Monday, the staff came to the office as usual and found it locked. After waiting for some time, some of them went to Elite dairy farm at Yapral, where they drew a blank. His house at AWHO Colony was also found locked,” he said.

According to the victims, some of them received a letter from the company on Monday asking them to not to draw cheques issued them as the managing director had urged the bankers to not honour the cheques.