Legal Responsibility in Investment Irregularities: Can Staff Members Be Proceeded Against Alongside the Owner?
In many financial businesses in India, the owner or promoter is not the person who deals directly with customers. Investors often interact with sales executives, relationship managers, field staff, or branch-level representatives who explain the scheme, collect documents, receive money, and make assurances about returns. When the investment later turns sour, returns are delayed, or the entire operation appears to be a fraudulent deposit or Ponzi-style arrangement, the central legal issue is not merely who owned the business, but who actually participated in the wrongdoing and in what manner. Under current Indian law, offences such as criminal breach of trust and cheating are dealt with under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act, 2019 provides a dedicated framework against unlawful deposit-taking schemes. Liability Is Based on Role and Conduct, Not Just Job Title The broad legal position in India is that criminal liability is person...