that if the certificates were issued by agents who were handpicked by Sharma himself, he

could not disown them. There was suspicion as to the dubious nature of the investments
Sharma had made with the money, which had not yielded the returns he had expected. As a
result, he serviced the interest on the old deposits out of fresh deposits.

After he was barred from raising fresh funds, he tried to get rid of the depositors by dubbing
their certificates fake. However, Sharma claimed that his investments fetched him the
expected returns. He also refuted allegations that most of his investments were in the JVG
Group. He said that he had invested in automobiles, plant and machinery and other
equipment through hire purchase and lease schemes, and only a minor amount was in
group companies. Sharma commented that the depositors with fake certificates would
anyway use their own resources to recover their money. They were sure to apprehend the
agents for issuing fake certificates. He said, "We are responsible only for the proper investor
who is listed with us."

Deflated Dreams
Sharma was well-known in the industry circles for shooting his mouth off. His grand
comments and claims were frequently splashed in business dailies and magazines. In fact,
Sharma claimed that it was only the attention he drew to himself by making grandiose
announcements that led to his downfall.

In May 1998, The Economic Offence Wing of Chandigarh police lodged an FIR against
Sharma under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code. However, Sharma failed to appear in
the court despite repeated warrants. He then moved the Mumbai High Court for
transferring of all criminal cases registered in various states against the JVG group to the
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for further investigation. In June, the court
transferred only the cases registered in Maharashtra to the CBI. The next day, Sharma
moved an application for anticipatory bail in the high court, upon which he was granted
interim bail till July 6. The Mumbai High Court granted four weeks bail to Sharma and
directed him to appear in the appropriate court in Delhi. Sharma did not appear before any
court in Delhi and went underground.

Following this, a team of officers from the Economic Offences Wing of the crime branch was
sent to Mumbai in November. The team arrested Sharma at a flat in Bandra, a suburb in
northwest Mumbai. In June 1999, after 16 months in jail, Sharma was granted bail on a
personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and a surety of a similar amount and was directed not to leave
the country without the court's permission and not to tamper with evidence. Sharma had
sought bail on health grounds claiming that he was suffering from hypertension, angina and
chest pain. The JVG companies were delisted and barred permanently from indulging in
NBFC activities in the future. However, JVG's demise and Sharma's stint in jail would
perhaps never replace the dreams and hopes of the investors whose hard-earned money
had vanished forever.