ED Files Prosecution Complaint Against Akshayagold Farms & Villas

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has filed a prosecution complaint under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, against Akshayagold Farms and Villas India Limited, its promoters/directors Bhogi Subramanyam, Devaki Harnath Babu and M Sudhakara Rao, and others in a Ponzi scam, in the Metropolitan Sessions Judge cum PMLA Special Court, Visakhapatnam.

The court has taken cognizance of the complaint.

The ED had initiated investigations on the basis of an FIR registered by the Ongole I Town PS, Andhra Pradesh, under various sections of the Prize Chits & Money Circulation Scheme Act and the Indian Penal Code for alleged cheating and defrauding the public by lakhs of rupees. Multiple FIRs were registered by the police of AP, Telangana, Karnataka and Odisha, and the CBI, against Akshayagold.

The ED investigation revealed that Akshayagold had cheated the public by collecting deposits without any permission from the RBI & SEBI. The accused collected funds from lakhs of gullible investors, enticed by agents who were given handsome commissions to enroll new clients. A hierarchy of agents was created in a pyramidal manner to earn high commissions, and investors were lured into investing their lives' savings by being promising sites in advertised real estate ventures and being offering high rates of return in various deposit schemes.

Earlier, the ED had attached assets of Akshayagold worth Rs 268.24 crore including 376 immovable properties in the form of agricultural lands, commercial plots, buildings, flats and so on in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana & Maharashtra, and movable properties in the form of bank account balances, investments in shares and so on.