Mangalore’s Roshan Saldanha multi-crore fraud case transferred to CID

Multi-crore fraud case: Following his arrest for orchestrating a multi-crore fraud, the Karnataka Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG & IGP) has ordered the transfer of four criminal cases against Roshan Saldanha to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for a detailed probe.

The directive, issued on August 13, 2025, transfers the cases from the Mangaluru City Police to the specialized state-level agency. The move comes as the magnitude of the alleged fraud, which spans across multiple states, is believed to exceed Rs 200 crore.

Saldanha, a 43-year-old resident of Bajal, Mangaluru, is accused of posing as a high-profile financier. He would lure wealthy businessmen with the promise of large loans at low-interest rates.

After inviting them to his lavish mansion which reportedly featured secret chambers and a fully stocked bar to create an illusion of wealth he would collect huge sums of money as “stamp duty” or “processing fees” and then vanish.

The case was transferred to the CID because one of the complaints against Saldanha, filed by a Bihar-based businessman, involved a fraud amount of over Rs 10 crore. Under existing regulations, fraud cases with such a large amount are referred to the CID for investigation.

The Mangaluru police had already frozen Rs 3.7 crore in bank accounts linked to Saldanha. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also joined the probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), raiding five locations and tracing assets, including Rs 5.8 crore spent on fishing boats in his wife’s name.

Saldanha, who was arrested in mid-July, is currently in police custody. His lawyers have been seeking bail, but the continuous stream of new complaints from victims across different states has complicated the process.

Also Read: Massive Fire in Bengaluru: 1 dead, 3 feared trapped