Hyderabad: The economic offences wings (EOW) of the Cyberabad police arrested eight individuals on charges of cheating around 3600 people of Rs 300 crore in the name of providing high interest rates.

According to the police, the accused persons set up a company named ’12 Wealth Capital Services Pvt Ltd’ along with other companies and lured people by collecting huge amounts and promising hefty returns.

The arrested accused – Kalidindi Pavan Kumar (managing director of 12 Wealth Capital Services Pvt.Ltd.) and his associates Ravula Sathyanarayana, Boddulu Harikrishna, Valluru Bhasker Reddy, Pagadala Ravi Kumar Reddy, Kollati Jyothi, Kuralla Mounika, and Kurkula Lavanya.

The arrest was made based on a police complaint by a Kukatpally resident Nayani Harikanta, one of the victims.

Harikanta was introduced by one of the accused to a scheme called ‘Buy Back Open Plots for 25 months’. In this scheme, a customer is required to buy a minimum of two guntas of land for Rs. 8.08 lakh including registration charges. Harikanta was promised a 4 per cent profit every month which is Rs. 32,000 per month for 25 months.

The accused, who posed as a business associate, gets a commission of 1 per cent which is Rs. 7200 per month for 25 months for joining the customers.

Investigations revealed that apart from 12 Wealth Capital Services Pvt Ltd, the arrested persons ran a double gold scheme and a gold chit scheme. In the double gold scheme, the customer can invest up to Rs. 4 lakh as a minimum investment at a time. The company will provide a receipt of a bond to the customer. After completion of the 12 months, they will give Rs. 8 lakh worth of gold biscuit.

Under the gold chit scheme of a 20-month plan, the customer can invest Rs 5 lakh with a return of Rs 15,000 per month for 19 months. In the 20th month, they promised to return the investment of Rs. 5 lakh to the customers. That means the customers get Rs. 8 lakh in total in the end.

Police said that with various schemes and companies, the eight arrested accused were able to cheat a large number of people (3,600 in total) and collected Rs 300 crore approximately.  

The accused have been booked under various sections of the BNS and section 5 of the Telangana Protection of Depositors of Financial Establishments Act- 1999.