Mumbai: Bandra police on Friday registered an FIR against Hiren alias Romi Bhagat and more than two others for allegedly cheating a former company executive of Rs 7.99 crore on the pretext of settling GST liabilities. The case is registered with Bandra police and the probe has been taken over by Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Crime Branch.Complainant Amit Prabhakar Tipnis (50), a former country manager at BWW Global Pvt Ltd, alleged that Bhagat and his associate Akash Gupta gained his trust by offering legal and other assistance over the company’s GST dues.In the FIR, Tipnis said: “BWW Global’s business shut down during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, leaving him facing company liabilities of about Rs 11 crore. Through advocate Prakash Nichani, he met Bhagat and Gusa on Sept 6, 2023. They allegedly advised him to lodge a complaint in Guwahati against the company’s overall in charge, Sachin Adhikari, and promised help in settling the GST cases.”Tipnis alleged that after Bhagat’s arrest in January 2024, Bhagat pressured him to transfer settlement money to accounts specified by Gupta. Gupta allegedly threatened to have Tipnis’s bank account frozen through contacts in the GST department. GST officials subsequently froze Tipnis’s Axis Bank account in Vashi.Believing assurances that the GST and VAT liabilities would be settled without full payment, Tipnis transferred about Rs 8 crore to various accounts. He also paid chartered accountant Pujan Parmar a professional fee of Rs 5 lakh on June 29, 2024.Tipnis alleged that his repeated follow-ups since August 2024 received no substantive response. During a meeting at Four Seasons in Worli on March 13, 2025, Bhagat allegedly threatened him, saying, “You did well to transfer all the money, otherwise today you would have been sitting in Guwahati Central Jail.”After Gusa allegedly blocked his telephone number in early February, Tipnis approached police, claiming the promised GST settlement had not been completed and expressing fears for his safety.TOI is in possession of the FIR that mentioned Bhagat and Gupta as accused along with others.In July 2024, a special court granted Bhagat bail in an Enforcement Directorate money-laundering case linked to travel company Cox and Kings, observing there were reasonable grounds to believe he was not guilty of the offence.
