Woman cheats man of `1.8 cr, arrested

A woman working as a VFX director for films has been arrested by the Rachakonda police for failing to repay her debts to borrowers, and instead telling them that her money was not being released by the Reserve Bank of India.

Rachakonda commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat said the accused M. Asha Rani of Tanuku in Andhra Pradesh was a post-graduate in Microbiology and discontinued her Ph.D. in Marine Biology from California State University. After her husband died two years, she moved to the city from Nellore and worked as a teacher.

She learnt several coding languages and did VFX courses. She also worked in New York for a Hollywood movie in 2010 and then in Dubai on international projects before getting married again in 2011.

In 2013, a case was registered against her on charges of cheating at Mahankali police station and another case of cheating at Chaitanyapuri police station.

“Asha came into contact with one Kotagiri Rama Rao. She convinced him that she has funds in her foreign bank accounts and several properties in the USA, which she was unable to use and made him transfer over `1.18 crore into her account. On several requests of Rao, she paid only `52 lakh and was delaying further payment,” said the commissioner. Upon arrest about `2 lakh cash, `22.68 lakh worth ornaments were seized from her possession.