VIJAYAWADA: AP Crime Investigation Department (APCID) sleuths on Saturday arrested Rayala Raja Rao, MD of Bommarillu Farms & Villas India Limited for allegedly cheating several investors in Machilipatnam, and produced before the tahsildar. He was later sent to two weeks’ judicial remand. According to the CID officials, the accused cheated around 4,878 investors to the tune of Rs 85 crore in 2014. In Machilipatnam alone, the company had collected Rs1.5 crore from investors by promising them house plots and villas at cheaper prices.
The case was filed at Chilakapudi police station in 2014 and later the CID took up investigation.
The CID officials had to produce Raja Rao before the tahsildar to secure his judicial remand following non-availability of Machilipatnam court judge.Raja Rao along with his wife Swathi Raja, and his brother launched Bommarillu Farms & Villas, with registered office in Hyderabad in 2011. The company appointed agents and other employees to market its plots, flats, apartment complexes, estate and farmland and allied products.
The company also has branches in various places like Srikakulam, Tekkali, Visakhapatnam and Karimnagar. “Four years after the scam broke out, we arrested Raja Rao. He opened a branch in Machilipatnam in 2013 and collected money promising depositors plots in two ventures at Gokavaram and Parnasala,” said the CID officials. Following the complaints, several officials of the company, including four directors of the firm and HR manager of Bommarillu Villas were arrested earlier. Investigation revealed that Raja Rao failed to pay the farmers from whom he bought land.