A chairman-and-managing director (CMD) of a "sham" company Borg Energy India Pvt Ltd was arrested from Madurai for allegedly cheating a city-based private firm of over Rs 1 crore, police said.
The Hyderabad Police apprehended the accused Boaz Augustin who allegedly collected crores of rupees from different companies under the pretext of building a solar power project, said an official release today.
On June 23 last year, a complaint was received from K Narsi Reddy, managing director of Sushee Ventures Pvt Ltd located at Banjara Hills stating that Augustin approached them claiming they are largest solar power equipment manufacturing company and have installed over 1000 MW of solar power around the world, said the release.
The accused impressed the complainant and others by claiming that his company was a subsidiary of a US firm which is the largest solar power equipment manufacturing company in the world, it said.
He offered to finance and build a solar power project of 3 MW initially in a debt/equity ratio of 90:10 on payment of 10 per cent of the project cost, it said.
Sushee Ventures Private Limited paid Rs 90 lakhs. However, later the project was hiked to 23 MW after which the accused pressurised to pay Rs 48 lakhs more, said the release.
Under the threat of losing the project, they paid Rs 48 lakhs to the company. However, after receiving a total of Rs 1.38 crore the accused allegedly became non-committal about the project, said the release.
"The accused collected approximately Rs 80-100 crores as upfront advance from various companies and individuals from all over India," police said, adding, there are seven cases registered against the accused in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi.
"When Sushee Ventures made enquiries it came to know that it is a sham company and it had collected crores of rupees," said police.
The company thereafter sought return of the amount paid to the accused's firm and later lodged a complaint with Hyderabad Police.
During the course of investigation, the bank statements of complainant and accused companies, details of directors from the Registrar of the Companies pertaining to the company, call data records of the accused were collected, said police.
Various accounts of the accused to the tune of Rs 2 crore were freezed. With the help of clues on hand, the Cyber Crime sleuths traced the accused from Madurai and arrested him, the release added.
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