Hyderabad: CCS arrests mastermind in Telugu Akademi fraud case

Hyderabad: The Central Crime Station (CCS) of Hyderabad police arrested six more persons, including the mastermind C Venkata Koti Sai Kumar, in the Rs. 64.5-crore fixed deposit fraud of Telugu Akademi, wherein the amounts were siphoned off from various banks.

The arrested persons were Segoori Ramesh, accounts officer, Telugu Akademi; M Sadhana, branch manager, Canara Bank, Chandanagar; Chunduri Venkata Koti Sai Kumar, realtor, Nanduri Venkata Raman of Tanuku (West Godavari), Venkateshwar Rao alias Dr Venkat, a realtor from Khammam, and Somashekhar alias Raj Kumar, also a realtor.

Anjani Kumar, Hyderabad police commissioner said on Wednesday that "the main accused was a habitual offender as he was earlier booked and arrested multiple times for committing such frauds. He was involved in committing fraud in the AP Minority Welfare Society FDR scam case, AP Housing Board scam, and Northern Coal Fields Chennai FDR scam. All these cases were investigated by the CBI."

"Sai Kumar used his expertise of morphing documents and committing frauds. He planned the Telugu Akademi case with the help of bank officials, brokers, and the Akademi staff arrested in the case. A total of Rs. 64 crore was misappropriated in the case. By colluding with other suspect Venkata Raman Sai Kumar created fake FDRs (Fixed Deposit Receipts) and request letters. The letters were then sent to banks. The fake FDRs were sent to the Akademi for records," he said.

Joint Commissioner of Police Avinash Mohanty said, the gang would obtain an original letter and cheque for Rs.1 crore from the Akademi addressed to a bank asking to provide FDRs for one year. The suspects would then create a fake letter and submit it to the bank asking it to give FDRs for a month or so. The gang would prepare and submit fake FDRs to the Akademi. On record, the Akademi would be having a copy of the letter and fake FDR in possession while the amount is actually withdrawn from the bank and diverted."

He added that "in order to execute the fraud, Sai Kumar contacted Ramesh who then handed over the cheques to Sai Kumar's associates. Somasekhar and Venkat would deposit the cheques in the bank as FDs. The accused initially deposited the amount in the fake Akademi accounts created in the AP Mercantile Cooperative Credit Society Ltd. using forged documents. From there it was transferred to AP Mercantile Cooperative Credit Society's account in Agrasen Bank, Siddiamber Bazar branch. The accused then withdraw the amount from Agrasen Bank and shared the amount.

The suspects, after withdrawing money from various banks, divided it and invested in real estate and paid off debts. "We have frozen some bank accounts. The investigation is still on to find out where the money has gone", said the officer.

The police had earlier arrested Mastan Vali, chief manager, Union Bank, BVVN Satyanarayana Rao, CMD, AP Mercantile Cooperative Credit Society Ltd, Vijayawada, V. Padmavathi, manager (operations), AP Mercantile Cooperative Credit Society, Hyderabad and Sayyad Mohiuddin, relationship manager.