Rs 1000 Crore Investment Scam in Kerala
Promoters of Apple A Day Properties, Kochi-based real estate company and money-chain fraudsters duped around Rs 1,000 Crore. Kerala Police said they are investigating a multi-city investment scam involving real estate developers and money-chain fraudsters that could have left lakhs of victims in the state and abroad poorer by upto Rs 1,000 crore.
“Apple A day Properties” lured property buyers by promising flats at a low rate in Kerala’s commercial capital Kochi and nearby areas and had collected advances from various persons, including NRIs, running into crores of rupees. To lure investors, ‘Apple A Day’ even offered a car for those who first booked flats and paid advance.
Following a high-level meeting in Kochi on Sunday, state DGP Jacob Punnoose said initial investigations indicated that the alleged scam could be worth Rs 1,000 crore.
Two of the alleged kingpins of the scam surrendered before a court over the weekend after complaints by people who said they had been duped drove them underground over a month ago, and forced the police to issue a lookout notice for them.
“A money-chain dealer had deposited Rs 300 crore taken from investors into 14 accounts opened in a bank using fake identities,” Punnoose said. “The police will investigate whether banks were also involved in the scam.”
Saju Kadavilan and Rajeev Kumar Cheruvara, against whom a look out notice had been issued by Kerala Police after investors complained that their company had failed to deliver flats on time, surrendered before the court in Ponnkunnam and were remanded to 14 days judicial custody, police said.
Cases would be registered against the money-chain dealers and their agents who had brought thousands of people into the network, the DGP said. A money-chain scheme works by offering incentives to investors who bring in more investors into the scheme. Some of these fraudulent investment schemes allegedly offered monthly returns of Rs 10,000 on an investment of Rs 1 lakh. In the manner of a classic Ponzi fraud, initial investors were given the promised returns, and incentivised to bring in more and more people into the scheme.
Investigating Officer P P Sadannandan said a Chennai-based company had defrauded investors in Kerala of Rs 370 crore through the scheme. “The company had accounts in prominent banks, but took the money out before the police raided. We have arrested two senior agents who brought around 20,000 people into the network,” he said.
At a public function, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said his government had been “forced to take action against financial institutions which lure depositors with tall promises”.
Apple A Day Properties, Investment Scam in Kerala, Land scam, multi-city investment scam, Real estate scam
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