Hyderabad: A 26-year-old man was arrested in Nalgonda on charges of defrauding hundreds of people to the tune of a whopping Rs 50 crore.
The Nalgonda police took Ramavat Balaji Nayak, a college dropout from Vaddi Patla village, into custody.
Giving details about the case during a press briefing, Nalgonda superintendent of police (SP), Sharat Chandra Pawar, said that Nayak borrowed Rs 5 lakh from his relatives to start an ice cream parlour. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, he incurred losses and shifted to the real estate market. He began borrowing money from locals and promised them high monthly interest rates.
“Initially, Nayak repaid as promised and slowly began building trust. He recruited agents, mostly relatives and acquaintances, who collected deposits from residents of Putnagandi, Gaddamidi, Chinthal, Nakkalapeta, and Pavurala Gattu,” the SP said.
Over time, he accumulated around Rs 50 crore. “Nayak started living a lavish lifestyle and brought expensive cars, villas, and land in Miryalaguda, Hayatnagar, Nereducherla, Palugu Thanda, and Damaracharla,” the officer said.
The cheating case came after Nayak invested about Rs 2.3 crore in wine shops, stock markets and software companies. There, he suffered heavy losses and subsequently stopped repaying the investors and fled.
Police said Nayak has cheated 106 people so far and many more are coming forward to register their complaint.
“During the raid, we seized two SUVs worth Rs 80 lakh, property documents, 36 promissory notes, 77 blank promissory notes, seven mobile phones valued at Rs 5.5 lakh, a register book, and an Excel sheet containing transaction records,” the SP said.
A case has been registered under Sections 316 (2) and 318 (4) of the BNS and Section 5 of the Telangana Protection of Depositors of Financial Establishments Act, 1999.
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