A 47-year-old French national, who is engaged in the IT sector, filed a statement on Friday evening (June 24) against Muktish Narain for defrauding him of Rs 1,687,623. He accuses the resident of Morcellement Riche-Fond, St Julien Village, of having duped him into partnering in an aquaponics project and producing fish. Muktish Narain, 28, was arrested at Centre de Flacq on Tuesday, June 21, for defrauding a doctor of Rs 1,603,000 for the same project.
The Frenchman, who is a director of an IT company and lives in Moka, explained that he learnt about Aquaponics Mauritius on Facebook in January 2021, and that the company was looking for financial partners for an ‘Aquaponic Farming’ project. After discussions with its director, he decided to invest in the company. The French national explained that he and his wife visited a piece of land in New France where Muktish Narain indicated a place where a greenhouse was to be built. A contract was then signed on 11 February 2021.
He was informed that the project would start as soon as the first payment was made. On 17 February 2021, he made a bank transfer of Rs 1 480 500. On June 23, 2021, he had made another bank transfer of Rs 54,623 and on October 14, 2021, another transfer of Rs 122,500. And in April 2022, he made a payment of Rs 30,000 for a renewal of charge at the request of Muktish Narain. Since then, he maintained, Muktish Narain had remained unreachable.
Mon Loisir resident swindles business partner of Rs 1.6 million
A police operation mounted in the Centre de Flacq area on the afternoon of Tuesday 21 June led to the arrest of Muktish Narain, a 28-year-old resident of Route Royale, Mon Loisir. The latter was reported to the Riviere du Rempart police station by a doctor for swindling him out of Rs 1,603,000. The doctor, who works in one of the country’s hospitals, had invested this money in an aquaponics project for the production of vegetables and fish.
The 42-year-old doctor, who lives in Haute Rive, had made a statement against Muktish Narain, whom he had met on Facebook. Muktish Narain was looking for partners, and the doctor had invested the sum of Rs 1,603,000 in the business. However, he never saw the project come to fruition, nor did he see the money. Muktish Narain had led him to believe that he would have had a 70 per cent stake in the business.
Muktish Narain has been arrested since Tuesday 21 June and is being held at the Rivière du Rempart police station.
