Cyberabad police unearth real estate scam of ₹7 crore

The Cyberabad Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on Friday arrested two men for a real estate fraud where eight persons were conned to the tune of ₹3.56 crore.

The suspects have been identified as Tammineedi Sri Venkata Ramana Prasad, the managing director, and Kosaraju Venkata Ratnam, marketing agent of JJ Infra India Pvt. Ltd. in Madhapur.

Investigation is under way to identify all the 1015 victims while the defrauded amount can go up to ₹7 crore, said S Ravinder, Asst. Commissioner of Police, Cyberabad EOW. The suspects have been involved in similar frauds under different company names, including JJ Infra India Pvt. Ltd., Tarini Avenues LLP among others, since 2012.

“They employed various channels, including telecalling, newspaper advertisements and attractive brochures, falsely representing ownership of lucrative properties to entice potential investors.

Despite not having any legal rights over the property, they showed open land in prime localities to the victims with a promise to complete the project within three years. They offered commercial space at ₹10,000 a square feet and promised a monthly rent of ₹100 a square feet,” the official said.

According to the officials, the scammers even promised the victims to double their investment in 30 months and made false agreements as collateral security for investments, after which the company became unresponsive.

Payments were primarily demanded in cash with receipts issued under different company. The EOW have filed the case under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery and of valuable security and will), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (Using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 5 of the Telangana Protection of Depositors of Financial Establishments Act (TPDFEA), 1999.

An investigation is under way to trace more suspects and victims connected with this scam.