HYDERABAD: Cyberabad police on Saturday arrested Yarlagadda Raghubabu, the owner of real estate firm Swadhatri Infra Pvt Ltd, director Gogulapati Srinivasa Babu and manager Meenakshi, who pulled off a scam to the tune of Rs 156 crore and cheated 1,450 persons. The victims were promised open plots in the city in lieu of their investments and in other cases, high returns.
Cyberabad Commissioner VC Sajjanar said the accused hired agents and tele-callers to reach out to people for investments. They also rented 20 luxury cars that were parked at their offices in order to lure investors. “The firm was registered with the Registrar of Firms at Hyderabad and had floated three different schemes to lure people.
Though he initially worked in Vijayawada, Raghu moved to Hyderabad, due to the increased surveillance on illegal finance businesses in Vijayawada and established his own firm here,” he said. The accused had three different schemes.
The first one was ‘Finance With High Returns’, through which they collected deposits up to Rs 87 crore from about 950 customers with the help of agents. Through the second scheme, ‘ Buy back scheme on real estate’, they collected Rs 42 crore from about 300 people. In the third scheme, ‘Residential Flats’, Rs 27 crore was collected from around 200 people.
Inquiries revealed that Raghubabu worked for a leading MNC during 2008-09 and later worked for an engineering college as a lecturer. He then moved to Vijayawada, where he ran a daily finance business until a couple of years ago.
Modus operandi
Cyberabad police say Yarlagadda Raghubabu looted 1,450 people through 3 schemes: