Hyderabad: Rachakonda police arrested three persons including the managing director of Green Gold Bio Infra Pvt Ltd company, for cheating the public to the tune of Rs 18 crore on the pretext of giving huge returns for investing in the company’s various schemes. Police seized property worth Rs 5 crore from the arrested persons and are searching for five absconding accused.
According to Rachakonda police, the accused, Jinna Srikanth, a native of Sunket village in Nizamabad district, went to Mumbai in search of a job after completing intermediate.
He worked in several places and started a leather goods manufacturing unit there, which he closed down and moved to Hyderabad in 1991.
He began an incense sticks business at Nizamabad and cheated several persons by taking money on the pretext of providing training to make the incense sticks at home.
Then he started a real estate business and after, Green Gold Bio Infra Pvt Ltd in December 2017 and Jinna Trading Company Limited last year.
He is married twice and has three children, but lives in Peerjadiguda at Medipally with his second wife and two children, said the police. Srikanth has eight cases booked against him since 2004, all relating to scamming the public.
Srikanth started the company without the required licences or permissions from the government departments concerned. He advertised selling a machine of '1 lakh that extracts oil from groundnuts. The company only provides 40 kg of groundnuts and gives an allowance of '10,000 for making the oil for 24 months and also made agreements to this effect.
Another scheme offered incentives for luring more customers in a chain system, which is a multi-level marketing model, said the police.
Rachakonda police commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat said, “The company has 1,385 customers from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra, in which 144 of them paid '2 lakh, 19 persons paid '5 lakh each, four customers paid '10 lakh each for the schemes. The company received deposits of about '18 crore in 2018, from which Srikanth purchased a flat and car and his associates also made big money.”
Based on a complaint from a victim, Srikanth and others were booked under sections 406, 420, 120 (B) of IPC, sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Prize Chits And Money Circulation Schemes Act and section 5 of the Telangana Protection of Depositors of Financial Establishment Act at Uppal police station.
The police arrested Srikanth and his two associates S. Bhaskar Yadav and Lanka Priya on Tuesday, while Venkateshwar Reddy, Ahalya Reddy, Anil Reddy, Anajaiah Goud, a railway employee, and Santhosh, and some dealers and agents of the company are absconding.
The commissioner said about '21.2 lakh cash, a car, cheques, about 40,000 litres of oil, mobile phones, and other stationery worth '5 crore was seized from the trio who were produced before a court for judicial remand.
