The Cyberabad police on Friday arrested a 42-year-old government school teacher from Siddipet, who allegedly cheated over 1,400 people to the tune of Rs 158 crore in a multi-level-marketing scheme, by posing as the CEO of Sun Pariwar Group, which was established by one of his students.

The accused was identified as Methuku Ravinder, a Telugu teacher working in an upper primary government school in Siddipet. Ravinder reportedly took leave from work and focussed on making money as the ‘CEO’ since January this year. He allegedly lured people in by promising huge returns if they invested in the schemes offered by his company. For an investment of Rs. 1 lakh, he reportedly offered Rs 5 lakh over 25 months, and the principal amount of 1 lakh on the 26th month. Police said that the accused was running several companies under the Sun Group.

“As he wanted to make a quick buck, he launched a fake scheme by promising people 6% returns every month on their investment. At one stage, he offered 72% returns. Customers fell for it and deposited their savings," Cyberabad Commissioner VC Sajjanar told Times of India.

The company offered a commission for the marketing agents for hitting the target of getting Rs 5 lakh as investment. Although Ravinder was running different companies, he followed the same scheme for all the companies," Deccan Chronicle quoted the Commissioner as saying. Besides offering huge returns, he also promised foreign tours to his agents if they met their 'target' and brought in many investors.

Police have frozen his bank accounts. He he was aided by his family members in the con, according to police. Ravinder was previously involved in real estate business, officials say. Ravinder was arrested by the Economics Offences Wing sleuths following a complaint by a victim, D Durgadas from Shameerpet.