DRDO ex-officer among 10 arrested in `95cr bank fraud

Accused cheated Bank of Maharashtra, Secunderabad of `4 crore Borrowed `99 lakh from Central Bank, Ranigunj Borrowed `43 crore from LIC Housing Finance Limited, Chennai

An organised crime racket that involved fraud of `95 crore was busted by the Abdullapurmet Police.

The Rachakonda Police have booked 50 accused including bank managers, legal advisors, a film director and character artist, a retired DRDO officer and two sub-registrars (Rtd) for cheating various banks and seeking loans through fabricated documents. The police apprehended 10 members, including Marella Srinivas Reddy, the kingpin.

According to the police, the actual owner of the land located in Abdullapurmet was Chandrashekar. The owner divided the land into four parts and sold it to four persons, namely Sigiripally Ettaiah, Sirigipally Pentaiah, Turupunur Ramulu and Turupunur Yadaiah.

Meanwhile, mastermind Marella Srinivas Reddy created false documents and some of the other accused Mamidi John Vinod Kumar, Mohanned Shafi, Kadari Vishwanatham and Gandham Jagan Rao impersonated the actual owners.

Currently, except original owner S. Pentaiah, the other three owners have expired.

The second accused in the fraud case, Gopal Krishna and accused number 14 T. Ram Prasad, signed as witnesses on the false sale deeds.

Retired sub-registrar, Gujjuri Ganga Ram, accused number 15 in the case knowing that these were fake documents registered the land and with the help of these registered documents, a loan of `99 lakh was taken from the Central Bank, Ranigunj. The bank manager, accused M. V. V. Prasad, was also involved. The same documents were used to seek loans from various other banks.

In 2013, Marella Srinivas Reddy acted as collateral guarantor for Sridhar, Director of Maven Life Sciences, Habsiguda, Hyderabad and submitted the land as guarantee. He obtained `4 crores and cheated the bank. A case was registered against him and investigation is still underway.

The police have registered cases under Sections 420, 419, 468, 471, 406, 120-B R/w 34 IPC at Abdullapurmet police station and further investigation is on.