Business investor misused my funds
Hi,
I invested 1+ CR with a business man in Noida. This person owns a number of successful restaurants and is a family friend on my wife's side. We did our research to validate his credentials and talked to him several times. We decided to invest in his new restaurant business and transferred money in multiple payments that were all done through NetBanking. This happened between Aug - Nov and he said the restaurant will be operational in Dec but then he said its delayed because of construction issues etc. So they will begin operation in Jan.
However, after December he started to ignore my calls. It looks like there was a case filed against him in Jharkhand by Jharkhand state and according to him all his funds were frozen. This meant that he could not make progress on the restaurant and according to him, he was under a lot of pressure so he avoided all calls until he had further answers.
It's been 8 months now since I have been following up with him and he rarely takes my calls. He mostly messages me that things are going to get better since he won his case in Jun. However, nothing has changed since then. He still keeps avoiding my calls and occasionally messages me that he will get back to me and talk to me soon.
At this point, I don't trust him and I fear losing all my money. So, I have two options here:
1. file a criminal case for fraud and ask for all money to be returned. this will understandably take a lot of time and I am not even sure if and when I can get my money back.
2. he mentioned that he has another restuarant that does very well, which is true, and that he is willing to share profits with me in this other restaurant. this seems a better option assuming that its possible. He did mention that he owns 85% of total investment and he can share a portion of that according to my investments.
I am split at this point on what option to go for.