HYDERABAD: The Cyberabad police are investigating the suicide of a former techie owing to alleged losses after investing Rs 25 lakh in schemes promoted by direct selling company Qnet.
Madhapur police of Cyberabad commissionerate in the city are probing the allegations made by family members of the techie Aravind, 31.
Aravind had also enrolled six other persons in the scheme. His kin claimed that he was under extreme pressure to enrol more members, which forced him to take this extreme step.
As he did not leave any suicide note, police are in a fix on how to proceed with the investigation. They have started verifying his bank accounts and the transactions he performed in connection with investments in Qnet and the returns he received, if any, from Qnet. They are also probing the ‘distributor chain’ in which he was working.
Aravind had left a well-paying job in an MNC and joined the Qnet chain.
Meanwhile, the Cyberabad police, which busted the Qnet racket in the city in January, have so far registered 30 cases and arrested 70 persons for cheating customers across the country to the tune of Rs 7,000 crore. Those arrested include techies, private firm employees and unemployed youth from Karnataka, Gujarat, Delhi and Odisha. Police said the firm targeted unemployed youngsters and recent graduates in the city, mostly from the IT corridor.
Deposits in different bank accounts totalling Rs 2.7 crore have been frozen and a godown and an office in Bengaluru belonging to the agency have been cordoned off after fresh cases were registered against it.
In the past too, 14 cases had been booked against Vihaan Direct Selling Private Limited which works under the banner of Qnet, a Hong Kong-based multi-level marketing company owned by QI Group. Thirty cases have been booked against Qnet in Cyberabad. The Telangana CID too is looking into eight cases filed against the MLM venture.
Qnet recently began offering e-learning courses, but inquiries revealed that none of the programmes are recognised by the government or affiliated to any university in India or abroad.
The firm, which started off in Hong Kong in 1989 and has a presence in 10 countries, allegedly set up Ponzi and binary schemes in India through its franchise Vihaan Direct Selling with Dilipraj Pokkella and Mohd Imthiyaz as directors.
Qnet attracted customers by promising high returns if they became a part of its businesses including but not limited to cost-optimization, health and wellness, watches and jewellery, personal care and beauty, tour and education. Once a new member joins the chain through a promoter, he becomes an independent representative and gets complimentary items. The promoter, in return, gets a commission. While top-level members get good returns, new members are left with nothing.
The company claims to have a through-direct-selling-process business structure, but in direct sales, the person selling the product gets the maximum commission and those above him get less. In pyramid and binary schemes, the primary seller does not receive any commission in the beginning, but as the chain grows under him, the commission he receives increases.
Qnet got pulled up for fraud for the first time in India in 2003 in Mumbai, after which a series of cases have been registered against it in different parts of the country including Hyderabad. In 2016, Hyderabad Central Crime Station sleuths arrested former world billiards champion and Padma Shri awardee Michael Joseph Ferreira and two others — all then directors of Vihaan Direct Selling India — for fraud.
Ferreira and the other accused were released on bail after the Supreme Court stayed all 19 cases registered against them. Those duped by Qnet have formed an association in Mumbai and are fighting for justice.
Meanwhile, Cyberabad police have also served notices to film stars Shah Rukh Khan, Boman Irani, Pooja Hegde, Allu Sirish and cricketer Yuvraj Singh, among 500 others, for their alleged links with Qnet.
Notices were served to them in February 2019 as they had promoted the firm and its schemes in India and abroad. The stars were asked to explain their association with the firm and furnish details of payments. Others who received the notices include other stars from the Hindi and Telugu film industries, CEOs of prominent firms and directors, promoters and shareholders of the firm.
QNET claims to be a direct selling company offering a number of products to help people live a healthy, holistic life. The company says it does not take any deposits or accepts any investments, adding that customers who purchase QNET products choose to become distributors by promoting its products and services to earn commissions. The company also offers a 30-day refund to customers in compliance with the direct selling guidelines of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.