3 Held For Cheating Loan Seekers

The North Zone team of the Commissioner's Task force, on Sunday, arrested 3 persons on the charges of cheating innocent loan seekers.

City Police Commissioner A K Khan told reporters that the arrested accused - Syed Shakeel (52), R Vinay Kumar (29) and P Suresh Kumar (34) - allegedly cheated several innocent people, who were in need of loan money, of money to the tune of about Rs. 60 lakh.

According to Khan, Syed Shakeel would pose as an advocate, while his associates Vinay Kumar and Suresh Kumar would act as property valuers and assist him in the cheating.

They used to attract people in need of money through ads in newspapers, saying that they would arrange huge loans, and they can provide collateral security.

Using this modus operandi, they collected Rs. 24 lakhs from a person residing in Marredpally who was in need of a loan worth Rs. 5 crores to set up a power project at Uganda.

They also collected Rs. 9 lakhs from a person from Musheerabad, who was in need of a loan worth Rs. 2 crores for a research project.

The team also allegedly cheated another person by collecting Rs. 12.8 lakhs, at Bowenpally, after luring him to arrange for gold at a cheaper rate from Singapore.

Police claimed that the accused have confessed of another modus operandi, in which they had collected money from victims on the pretext of taking DDs for stamp duty of 1% of the value of the asset, after which they fled away.

This way, the accused collected Rs. 2.30 lakh from a person in ECIL, Rs. 1.05 lakh from a person in Balanagar, Rs. 1.10 lakh from a person in LB Nagar, Rs. 1.80 lakh from a lady in Dilsukhnagar, Rs. 1.85 lakh from a person in Moulali, Rs. 3.20 lakh from a person in Cherlapally, and Rs. 1.30 from a person in Begumpet.

The accused also confessed to have cheated and collected Rs. 2.8 lakh from a person in Karmanghat after promising him of a seat in Deccan Medical College.

Further, he also confessed to have placed ads in newspapers in Bangalore, and to have fraudulently taken money from innocent unemployed youth, ranging from Rs. 7,000 to Rs. 10,000.

The Police Commissioner said that the above victims were yet to be traced, and requested people to approach the Commissioner's Task Force to assisting the police in the investigation.

With the money gained from the frauds, the accused Shakeel purchased a Verna for his use, a Micra Car for his wife, and one Yamaha FZ vehicle for his son, thus leading a lavish life.

He also gave his Hyundai i10 car and Pulsar motorcycle to Vinay Kumar as commission.

Police seized from the accused 3 cars - Verna, Micra and i10 - and 3 bikes, all worth about Rs. 20 lakhs. In addition, cash of Rs. 10,400, a gold chain, a gold ring, 11 cell phones and relevant documents were also seized from their possession.

The arrested accused, along with the seized property, were later handed over to the Bowenpally police station for necessary action. (INN)