Cambridge restaurateur Vinod Kapoor ran into his cousin Raman Handa outside Handa's jewelry store in the Burlington Mall on Dec. 9. Handa, owner of the Alpha Omega Jewelry chain, picked up Kapoor's 17-month-old granddaughter and said he would like to get the two families together for dinner over the holidays.
But his cousin didn't seem his normal self. "I asked him about his business, and said this year it's not that great," Kapoor recalled. "He looked tired. I told my wife I've never seen Raman look like that."
They never had that dinner. Handa left the country with his entire family last weekend to return to his native India amid worsening financial problems. Financial documents reviewed by the Globe show Handa's debts were mounting, and yesterday his lawyer said Handa's bank had taken possession of the assets at his upscale jewelry stores, which were closed for business five days before Christmas.
The lawyer also said Handa was receiving medical care in India after being discharged from the Lahey Clinic in Burlington.
"Raman is quite ill, but he's been in touch with people at his company and with the company's attorneys by e-mail and we've talked to him on the phone as well," said his lawyer, Richard E. Mikels, a partner at the Boston law firm Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo. "He tells us he's going to return in a couple of weeks." Mikels said he could not specify what illness Handa was suffering from.
Mikels said he has been negotiating with LaSalle Business Credit, an arm of Bank of America Corp., to come up with a plan that would enable the four Alpha Omega stores in the Boston area to reopen. He said the plan could involve a bankruptcy filing or an out-of-court settlement with the bank. "The important thing is to try to get the people back to work," Mikels said. "This is not an acrimonious situation."
Boston area Alpha Omega jewelry stores, whose customers over the years have included such notables as film star Ben Affleck, former Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez, and former President Clinton, were vacant and locked yesterday with no explanation offered to customers on when or if they would reopen. In addition to the flagship store in Harvard Square, there are Alpha Omega stores in Boston's Prudential Center, in the Burlington Mall, and in the Natick Collection mall.
Raman's business problems led him to rely on his personal assets to bolster his jewelry stores. Last month, he pledged his $2 million home in Lexington as collateral for business financing that the Alpha Omega parent company, Lexington Jewelers Exchange, had signed with LaSalle Business Credit, according to the South Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Raman's house was empty on Wednesday, with snow-covered luxury cars parked outside, and calls to him and other family members at home and in their Cambridge corporate office were not returned yesterday.
Middlesex County records show Handa remortgaged his house and a second piece of property he owned about a dozen times in the last 11 years, often for million-dollar-plus sums. Some refinancings were for lines of credit, including a $350,000 line from National City Bank. Leader Bank of Arlington was another frequent supplier of the loans to the Handas. Handa also used his home in a $2.4 million business financing that Alpha Omega negotiated with Middlesex Savings Bank in 2002. Many of the loans were repaid or refinanced.
Holiday shoppers were baffled to find Alpha Omega stores locked yesterday as crowds swarmed area malls and shopping districts. Some customers were angry, wondering where or whether they could pick up jewelry or watches that had been ordered for Christmas presents or dropped off for repair.
Mark Micciche, technology sales manager for Oracle Corp. in Burlington, said he was shocked to find the Alpha Omega store in the Burlington Mall dark last night, as armies of shoppers paraded through the mall and waited in line to visit Santa Claus across from the jewelry store. Micciche said he had earlier left a Rolex watch at the store for repair and was told it was being sent to Cambridge. He said he had called Handa at his home in Lexington but gotten no answer.
"This is an 18-year-old watch, and I love it," said Micciche, who said he paid $2,000 for the Rolex in the 1980s and was prepared to pay more than $500 to Alpha Omega to repair it. "My wife just told me I'm not getting another one. I may have to call the attorney general."
A memo issued by Robert A. Joy, the jewelry chain's human resource director, was posted yesterday on the website of Boston Magazine, where Alpha Omega was long a leading advertiser.
The memo said Handa was convalescing in India. "We anticipate a quick recovery whereupon he will return to operate the day-to-day functions of Alpha Omega Jewelers," it said. Until recently, the chain, specializing in high-end watches and jewelry, also advertised heavily in the Globe and other publications and media.
Alpha Omega employees appeared as confused about the future of the chain as its customers and advertisers. In an e-mail to professional associates yesterday, Erin Evanoka, the company's long-time publicist, said, "I just wanted to let you know that as of the end of the day today, I am no longer an employee of Alpha Omega Jewelers. I wish that I had answers for all of you about what is going on, but unfortunately, I am as confused as you are."
Handa's cousin, Kapoor, who owns the Bombay Club restaurant in Harvard Square and considers Handa his business mentor, said he talked with Handa's brother in Bangalore yesterday and was told that relatives in India had no knowledge of Handa's whereabouts.
"He left without telling us anything," Kapoor said. "It's mind-boggling that this happened. He's very private. God willing, he's OK." Kapoor said he was concerned Handa might have left the country in response to a threat to himself or a member of his family.
Andrew Caffrey of the Globe staff contributed to this story. Robert Weisman can be reached at weisman@globe.com, Nicole C. Wong at nwong@globe.com.
