Baahubali, Rudramadevi VFX designer held for defrauding realtor in Hyderabad

Asha Kiran Mateti (39) who worked as visual effects designer for several Telugu and foreign movies including Baahubali and Rudramadevi has been arrested by the Rachakonda police on the charges of defrauding a Khamman based realtor to the tune of Rs 1.18 crore.

She cheated the realtor Kotagiri Rama Rao claiming that she owns properties worth USD 62 million (Rs 1600 crores) in US and needs a clearance from RBI to get the amount transferred. 

Rao who approached her with the same problem got trapped after she assured him to get his amount Rs 240 crore transferred from US. She asked him to deposit Rs 1.20 crores in her account saying that she needs to showcase the amount to bankers to get funds transferred from foreign countries. 

Believing her, Rao deposited the amount after she wrote an agreement promising him not to utilise the amount for her personal issues. But, Asha transferred Rs 60 lakhs to her current account and made Rs 10 lakh as fixed deposit. She also bought gold ornaments worth Rs 22 lakh. 

On learning the matter from the bank executives, Rao withdrew Rs 56 lakh cash from the bank account by depositing the cheques she gave during the agreement and then lodged a complaint with the police to get the remaining amount. 

Based on the complaint, the police arrested her and seized gold and silver worth Rs 23 lakh along with a cash of Rs 2 lakh.

According to police, Asha Kiran hailing from West Godavari had completed her Masters in Microbiology from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bengaluru. Later she moved to USA in 2005 for higher studies, where she joined in a PhD program at California State University but discontinued. 

During her stay in the USA, she learnt graphic designing and animation and worked in a few Hollywood films also, before moving to Dubai, where she reportedly worked for a Bling studio. 

She then returned back to India in 2011 and married Venkata Umamaheshwar for the second time as her first husband Surya Ravi died due to a heart attack in 1999.

It is learned that Asha habituated to cheating the people with the help of Hemanth who also worked with her as a graphic designer for Baahubali and Rudramadevi.

Asha was also found accused in several other cases which were registered against her in 2013 and 2016.