Mumbai Police detains Speak Asia COO

BANGALORE, INDIA: The Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police's Crime Branch on Friday took into custody Tarak Bajpai, chief operating officer of Speak Asia Online, an online survey company.

The police detained him on Friday for alleged financial irregularities, according to the police, who added that he was arrested late on Thursday in connection with a forgery case. Bajpai is believed to have been taken into custody in Indore, before being brought to Mumbai.

The company has been accused of irregularities to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore. It is expected that it would be investigated under section 591 of the Companies Act, applicable to companies incorporated outside India and have established their business in the country, according to some media reports.

Apparently, Bajpai was unperturbed about the detention and said that it was a "small investigation and I have stay order from High Court".

Claimed to be based out of Singapore, Speak Asia charges its registered users Rs 11,000 annually, for conducting online surveys at the behest of its clients. The members, in turn, are paid on a per-survey basis. Its major scheme involves paid subscribers filling up online consumer survey forms and attracting more members in return for commissions.

The company, however, is said to have no office in India.

On the issue, BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, in a letter dated May 14, 2011 addressed to the Ministry of Finance, had alleged, "SpeakAsia is an online company collecting large sums of money by rapidly enrolling people with the promise of incredible payments for simply filling out online surveys."

"Our preliminary investigation, however, shows that the company is not registered in India and it does not have any legal documentation to carry out such business. The company hopes to register one crore agents by the year-end... claims to be based in Singapore, and is spreading its multi-level marketing wings in India under the pretext of online surveys."

In his letter, Somaiya represented Investors' Grievances Forum in his capacity as its president. He had also filed a complaint against the company with the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai police.

Till recently, Speak Asia claims to have about 1.9 million registered members.