‘Will Repay Customers’: Absconding Goodwin Brothers Release Video

Over 200 customers lodged police complaints against the two brothers after they went missing.

Owners of jewellery chain Goodwin Group AM Sunilkumar and AM Sudheerkumar released a video message on social media, claiming they were targeted by extortionists and have hence gone “underground”.

(Photo: Screenshot/Video released by Goodwin brothers)

With over 200 panicky customers lodging police complaints against them, the missing owners of jewellery chain Goodwin Group AM Sunilkumar and AM Sudheerkumar on Monday, 28 October released a video message on social media, claiming they were targeted by extortionists and have hence gone “underground”.

Saying that they are with family in Kerala, the brothers who are still absconding said they will not let the customers get in trouble.

“We are seeing a lot of reports about Goodwin jewellers in print media, TV media and social media which has scared everybody. To be honest, the reports have saddened us. We are doing business for the last 28 years, we've been in Mumbai for the past 23 years. There are many families who have trusted and supported us. We will not let them get into any trouble,” said Sunilkumar.

The duo has claimed that contrary to rumours, they are not “absconding” but merely staying put in a safe place from the alleged extortionists who have demanded a huge sum of money from them.

“They had asked us for 50 crores, and have filed a case for 10 crores as well,” said Sudheerkumar.

They also assured the anxious customers not to worry as they will repay all their dues, but argued that if they were put behind bars by the police, they would be unable to mobilise their resources to clear all outstandings.

Seeking to ally the customers' fears, the brothers assured in their video-message that they “will live and die in Maharashtra” and will soon dispose off all their properties to repay the customers' outstanding dues.

While Sunilkumar is the managing director of Goodwin Group, his brother is a director in the family-run concern and police are currently on the lookout for both.

A large number of customers staged a demonstration for the second day on Monday after the jewellery firm suddenly shut down its outlets in Thane and Mumbai and 10 other cities in Maharashtra, besides Kerala and West Asia.

The owners seemed to have disappeared suddenly leaving in the lurch thousands who have invested crores of rupees in the company's schemes.

The company offered attractive returns on fixed and gold deposits, higher than bank rates, to the customers and many people were lured to invest anywhere from Rs 20,000 to Rs 5 million.

The alleged scam tumbled out late last week when the customers who turned up to get back the promised returns and their investments found the jewellery stores shut and nobody available to answer queries, after which the people approached the local police.

(With inputs from IANS)