VIJAYAWADA: As many as 143 unemployed youths were duped by a software firm, which remained shut on Wednesday, without giving placements or paying salary to its employees since last three months.
According to Machavaram inspector K Umamaheswara Rao, the accused Akkala Sivakoti Reddy from Cherukupalli village, Guntur district owned a software company MadWic Software Solutions located near Maris Stella College. He started the company in June 2017 and collected `25,000 each from 143 students who completed graduation.
The victims alleged that Sivakoti Reddy had collected Rs 35 lakh from them, promising to provide a job with a high pay package in a multi-national company after two months training. As no placement drives were conducted for the candidates who completed training, the students grew suspicious of Reddy and demanded him to return the money.
On Wednesday, when students went to the office, they found its shutters down. “When there was no response from Reddy, the students lodged a complaint alleging that the company’s director had duped them. The director did not come to office and was unavailable,” said CI Umamaheswara Rao. Based on the complaint, a case has been booked under section 420 (Cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Reddy.