Hardik Pandya's stepbrother held for cheating him calls issue 'family matter', 'misunderstanding'
Mumbai, Cricketer siblings Hardik and Krunal Pandya's stepbrother Vaibhav, who was arrested for allegedly cheating them of ₹4 crore in a business venture, on Friday told a Mumbai court the entire matter was a family one and just a misunderstanding.
Vaibhav Pandya made the submission through his lawyer during his remand hearing.
His police custody was extended till April 16.
He was held by Mumbai police's Economic Offences Wing on Monday on the charges of criminal breach of trust, criminal intimidation, criminal conspiracy, forgery and other relevant sections.
He was produced before additional chief metropolitan magistrate L S Padhen at the end of his initial police remand on Friday.
During the hearing, Vaibhav's lawyer Niranjan Mundargi told court "it was a family matter and the case has been filed due to misunderstanding" and added that efforts were on to resolve the matter.
Mundargi further submitted that his client was cooperating with the probe and had no objection to the remand extension sought by police.
The EOW had sought further remand for seven days claiming that the probe was not complete and material information had not been recovered from the accused as yet.
The magistrate, after hearing both sides, noted the probe agency has shown progress in the investigation and it needed more time to interrogate the accused as there were various financial aspects connected to the case.
According to police, Vaibhav, Hardik and Krunal set up a polymer business in partnership in Mumbai in 2021. While Hardik and Krunal invested 40 per cent of the capital each, Vaibhav invested 20 per cent and the profit-loss was fixed in the same 2:2:1 ratio.
As per police, it was decided that Vaibhav would handle daily operations of the business, but he allegedly set up another firm involved in the same business without informing Hardik and Krunal, in the process violating the partnership provisions.
Due to this development, profits of the original firm came down, which resulted in a loss of Rs 3 crore to Hardik and Krunal, while Vaibhav's own profit increased by 20-33 per cent.
The accused also allegedly diverted around ₹1 crore from the firm to his own account, police said, resulting in total loss of ₹4 crore to the cricketer siblings.
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Standing firmly with armed forces; time for unity, solidarity: Congress
New Delhi(PTI): This is a time for unity and solidarity and the Congress is standing firmly with the armed forces, the party said on Wednesday as Indian armed forces carried out missile strikes on terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said India's commitment to eliminating all sources of terrorism in Pakistan and PoK has necessarily to be uncompromising and always be anchored in the supreme national interest.
"This is a time for unity and solidarity. Right from the night of April 22nd, the Congress has been categorically stating that the government will have our fullest support in the nation's response to the Pahalgam terror attack," he said.
"The Congress is standing firmly with our armed forces," Ramesh said on X, using the hashtag "Operation Sindoor".
In retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack, Indian armed forces carried out missile strikes early Wednesday on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad stronghold of Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba's base Muridke.
The military strikes were carried out under Operation Sindoor two weeks after the massacre of 26 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam.
"A little while ago, the Indian armed forces launched 'Operation Sindoor' hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed," the defence ministry said in a statement at 1.44 am.
It said the actions by the Indian armed forces have been "focused, measured and non-escalatory" in nature and that no Pakistani military facilities have been targeted.
"प्रहाराय सन्निहिताः, जयाय प्रशिक्षिताः"
— ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) May 6, 2025
Ready to Strike, Trained to Win.#IndianArmy pic.twitter.com/M9CA9dv1Xx
