Six members of a gang held for duping investors of Rs 5cr

Six members of an inter-state gang of online fraudsters, who allegedly cheated depositors of money to the tune of Rs five crore by promising higher rate of interest, were arrested from Karnataka by Cyber Crime Police of Cyberabad.
The gang members, who were operating from Goa, were arrested yesterday, police said, adding that around Rs 40 lakh cash and documents of property worth about Rs 1 crore were seized from them.
"The kingpin of the gang Phani Raj Gowda, is the Chairman and Managing Director of Mysore-based Nishka group of companies, which suffered losses in the co-operative society under his management. Several criminal cases had been registered against him in different districts of Karnataka in this regard," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) B Srinivas Reddy said.

Gowda then hatched a plan along with his close aide and former director of Nishka Co-operative Society, Puttaraju, his close follower Mahesh Chikkaiah, former employee R M Chaman and software professional Dada Peer to set up a finance company to collect money from people through deposits, the officer said.
As part of the plan, Gowda got a firm 'Vcan Traders' registered in the name of his associate Puttaraju.
"In September this year, the accused took office premises on rent in Panjim city and also launched a website, www.Vcan22.Com, and posted online advertisements by offering 4 per cent interest per day on the deposits operated on online bank accounts," Reddy said.

"Initially, some software employees in Hyderabad invested small amounts on which the fraudsters promptly paid four per cent interest per day due to which they fell into the trap of the fraudsters and invested huge amounts," police said.

However, after collecting about Rs 4-5 crore from investors in different states, all the fraudsters switched off their cell phones and vacated the premises and went underground, they said.
After the victims realised that they have fallen into the trap and got cheated, they approached police and lodged a complaint against the firm with Cyber Crimes Police.
While three accused- Ziaullah, Dada Peer, R M Chaman were arrested from Chitradurga district of Karnataka yesterday, the kingpin of the gang, Phani Raj Gowda, along with his other associates Puttaraju, Chikkaiah Mahesh were intercepted in Hassan district of Karnataka when they were travelling in a vehicle, and were subsequently arrested.