KOCHI: Kalady police have busted a gang that siphoned off money from people by offering them rights to a computer software. According to the police, the gang duped an Edathala native businessperson for Rs 3.03 crore on the false claim that the Reliance Group had set its eyes on acquiring the software.
The case came to the fore after police arrested the first accused, Rubais of Mattannur, Kannur, for duping a Chowara native in 2020 for Rs 37 lakh, offering the patents rights of an Ambulance-related software recently. Kalady police have registered this 2020 case against Rubais, Sanoop V K of Erattupetta, Illyas and Faisal, both hailing from Kannur.
It was Shamsudeen P S, who runs a business in Kalamassery, who was cheated by the gang. The case
Donning the alias Adhil, Rubais had approached Shamsudeen with the information that a friend, Sharaf Ali, had developed a unique software for an online textile business named Voonik Textile Online App.
“Further, Rubais told Shamsudheen that Sharaf is currently working as the personal assistant of Mukesh Ambani’s son Akash Ambani and that Reliance will be procuring the software for Rs 600 crore. He also mentioned that Sharaf is ready to sell the software to him for Rs 150 crore,” a police official said.
Later, the second accused, Sanoop, impersonating Sharaf, along with Rubais and two others, visited the office of Shamsudheen at HMT in Kalamassery. He brought a computer hard disc claiming that it contained Voonik Textile Online App.
Illiyas and Faisal, who checked the hard disc in front of Shamsudheen, said it contained the software.
“After this, the discussion of the financial aspect started. Sanoop said that he requires `5 crore in cash as advance payment. The rest of the amount was to be paid later. The complainant and Rubais agreed to jointly pay the amount,” a police official said.
On December 2020, Shamsudheen paid Rs 2.5 crore in cash to Sanoop. A few days later, Rubais approached Shamsudheen again, claiming that he could not arrange the amount and borrowed Rs 75 lakh from him, promising to return the amount soon. However, after months passed, there was no further response about receiving the software or selling it to Reliance.
When Shamsudheen insisted on getting his money back, Rubais paid Rs 20 lakh to him. Later, he did not respond to calls. Recently, after Rubais was arrested by Kalady police for cheating a Chowara native for `37 lakh, Shamsudheen approached the police with a complaint.
Kalady police have decided to record the arrest of Rubais in the fresh case registered for cheating Shamsudheen. Police also have started attempts to trace Sanoop in the case. “In the case related to cheating a Chowara native, Sanoop was introduced as the son of the managing director of Aster DM Healthcare. They convinced the man that the intellectual property rights of software developed is to be procured by a London-based company soon,” a police official said.