BENGALURU: The Jayanagar police have arrested a couple who allegedly cheated as many as 85 people, of more than Rs 100 crore. The scam: several investment schemes. The accused have been identified as M Srinivas, 63, and his wife B G Pushpalatha, 55. Both are residents of Vijaya Bank Layout, behind Indian Institute of Management, off Bannerghatta Road.
The Jayanagar police had received a complaint that the arrested couple, their son Sudeep, and daughter-in-law Preethi Ramamohan were running companies like Shreyas Finance & Investments, Shreyas Chits, and Shreyas Souharda Co-operative Limited in Jayanagar Fifth Block.
They had collected money from people towards fixed deposit and chit funds schemes, promising high interest rates. Recently, they shut their offices and disappeared, cheating hundreds of customers. Three complaints were registered in this connection and it was alleged that there had been scams to the tune of Rs 10 crore! Based on the complaints, efforts were made to nab the accused.
“After shutting their office, the couple had rented a house in Vijaya Bank Layout, They were living there. Based on the registration number (KA-05-MR-3602) of their Swift Dzire car, they were tracked down while they were travelling on Hosa Road near Kudlu in Parappana Agrahara. They were immediately arrested and produced before a judge. They have been remanded to police custody for 10 days,” the police said.
“Investigations revealed that that the couple was running the financial firm for the last 25-30 years. It had almost one thousand customers. The couple invested money in the share market and in real estate and they had been doing well earlier. However, in the past few months, the firm suffered huge losses and could pay neither interest nor the principal amount to its customers.
“Six months ago, the couple’s son Sudeep, an architect, and his wife, who were also directors of the firm, realized they could be in trouble and fled to Hong Kong. Efforts are on to nab them,” the police added.
The police suspect that the accused have cheated the customers to the tune of more than Rs 100 crore. They said a clear picture will emerge after they question the accused. Investigations are on.
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