Mumbai police have arrested popular Canada-born chef Kelvin Cheung on Monday for allegedly cheating a Bandra-based known seafood restaurant’s co-owner to the tune of USD 200,000.
“Cheung was arrested in Delhi and was brought to Mumbai today morning on transit remand. He is being produced in the court in the cheating case,” confirmed Somnath Chasker, the sub-inspector of Khar police station who is part of the investigation team.
According to police, Khar police had registered a first information report (FIR) against chef Kelvin Cheung and his father Chi Ping Cheung early this month under sections 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) based on the complaint of Ranjit Bindra, a resident of Pali Hill in Bandra and co-owner of Bastian.
As per the police complaint, Cheung had been working at Bindra’s office for a long time as chef. “While working at the Bandra restaurant, Cheung asked Bindra to invest in popular restaurant franchises in Chicago and Los Angeles with the help of his father. In 2015, the complainant invested USD 200,000 in multiple transactions,” Gajanan Kabdule, senior inspector of Khar police station had said.
Police officials said that the money was transferred through a hospitality firm.
Last year, Cheung suddenly disassociated with the restaurant claiming his father had passed away. Since then, the complainant’s discussion with Cheung regarding the investments abroad did not go well. Later, Cheung allegedly started ignoring Bindra, who chased his investments in vain, a police officer said.
“Recently, Bindra learnt that Cheung has returned to India. He hoped to get his money back, and hence approached police and registered a complaint,” said Kabdule.
Police may seek Cheung’s police custody for questioning him about the money transactions.
Cheung’s spokesperson said a statement would be released soon on the current development.