Mumbai : With the QNet Scam getting bigger by the day, the activist who exposed this case has alleged that there are several Bollywood personalities who are associated with this case and has said that they should return the money they have taken from the government and issue an apology.

According to the activist, Gurupreet Singh Anand, this scam has been going on since the last 10 years and more than 12 lakh investors have been duped by QNet, which is a multi-level network marketing company. “This scam has been investigated by several agencies, right from the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police to the Central Bureau of Investigations and they have all said that this is a serious fraud. And yet, this scam continues and there are reports that there are several actors and politicians who are involved in this,” he claimed.

Singh said that when the first complaint was made against this company, which was called QuestNet they had given an undertaking in the Supreme Court that they will not do this again and that the complaint against them should be quashed. But all they did was to change the name of the company to QNet and spread their operations to various parts of Maharashtra.

“As part of this, they sold round glass pieces to their investors for Rs 30,000 and said that these things are useful in curing various diseases,” the activist said. The money gathered from this racket was later sent out to places like Hong Kong and British Virgin Islands, both tax havens.  The global managing director of this company Vijay Easwaran is presently wanted by the police and is an ‘absconding accused’ in several cases in India.

According to Singh, there are several Bollywood actors who have associated themselves with this company and are actively promoting them at various places. The company is now carrying out its operations through its franchise Vihaan Direct Selling Private Limited and a well-known billiards player and his two sons are shareholders of this company.

The activist said that the High Court has clearly said that this entire business is illegal, while the Serious Frauds Investigations Office has said that this scam is a threat to national security. “I have submitted my complaint to the Crime Branch recently and have asked them to take necessary action against the guilty persons,” he claimed. In fact, it was also brought to the notice that QNet had submitted fake documents to the regulatory agencies.

It is a matter of serious concern that some of the investors in this scam are from various government ministries and even from the defense department. The EOW has already started taking action against some of the persons and there are others who have taken anticipatory bail, Singh said.

However, the venue witnessed a silent protest by nearly 25 demonstrators who held placards that said ‘I trust QNet’. The demonstrators had tapes across their mouths and they first entered the venue of the press meet. Later, on the request of the local police they walked off to Azad Maidan where they continued their protest.