Hyderabad: A man pretending to be a spiritual guru, who allegedly duped people of Rs 34.34 crore eight years ago, was arrested by CID on Monday, September 4. He had collected the money under the garb of social work and constructing night shelters, police said.
The accused, Madduru Uma Shankar, wanted in two non-bailable cases and another case for duping people, is a resident of RK Puram in Kothapet.
Uma Shankar amassed Rs 30 crore from his victims since 2006 while claiming that he was uplifting the people spiritually, helping social groups construct night shelters for the homeless, establishing gau shalas, and old-age homes, and ensuring the education of children.
In 2009, his victims got suspicious about Uma Shankar using the money for his personal needs. There was no documentary evidence for the financial transactions.
Based on a complaint by private company employee MS Giri Prasad, 41, from Asmangarh, Chaitanyapuri police registered a cheating case against Uma Shankar in 2015. Giri Prasad alleged that Uma Shankar posed as a spiritual guru and cheated the people.
A case was then registered under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly) of IPC on May 19, 2015. The second case was registered on November 2, 2015, by CCS police for duping people of 4 crore on the pretext of investing it in real estate.
The third case was registered at Chaitanyapuri police station on November 11, 2015, for Rs 17.5-lakh fraud.
All three cases were transferred to CID in December 2015, and the Economic Offences Wing took up the probe.
According to the CID Telangana, a special team nabbed him from Kompally. He was later produced before a court.
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