MUMBAI, Sept. 23 -- The Bombay High Court on Monday refused bail to a Thane-based businessman, Sandip Samant, who is allegedly the mastermind of an investment fraud in which over 900 investors, many from Mumbai and Thane, were defrauded of nearly Rs.377.6 crore. Justice Neela Gokhale, denying his bail, said the scale of the allegations showed that vulnerable investors were misled with unrealistic promises. Using online advertisements, AS Agri and Aqua LLP, claiming to be involved in agricultural tech projects, promised annual payouts of Rs.1 crore and double returns within 16 months. The company representatives persuaded a family in city to buy a farmland in Yenmadala village worth Rs.1.1 crore. They then claimed that the land not arable and convinced them to spend an additional Rs.60 lakh for levelling. The agricultural projects, however, never took off. The company stopped responding to calls and emails, leaving the family. The Thane police Economic Offences Wing confirmed that more than 900 people were duped in a similar manner. After a complaint was filed, Samant was arrested on March 16, 2023, and has since been in custody. Samant argued that his arrest was illegal since the grounds of the arrest had not been furnished to him in writing. This violated the constitutional safeguards, he said, adding he had already spent over two years in jail without the possibility of a trial commencing in near future. The prosecution pointed sout that he was informed of the grounds of his arrest, his wife too had been notified. While looking through forensic audits and seized company documents which showed large-scale diversion of investor funds. Justice Gokhale said, "The magnitude of the fraud... show that no case is made out for grant of bail."...