The big Bengaluru Ponzi scam did not just cheat businessmen and sports stars – several doctors in the city, too, were targeted by Vikram Investments, according to the latest developments in the case.
After the arrest of Raghavendra Srinath and his associates in the Rs 300 crore investment scam in Bengaluru, now, more people have registered complaints against Vikram Investments in the Banashankari, Jayanagar, Sadashivnagar and Mico Layout Police Stations.
"We now have about 100 complaints against Vikram Investments," a senior police official said.
Investigating officers now suspect that Raghavendra Srinath may have duped at least 50 doctors in the city. Srinath’s wife Sunitha Acharya, the director of Vikram Investments has been accused by several doctors who have registered complaints at various police stations across the city.
Sadashivnagar police say that Dr Balaji registered a complaint on Wednesday alleging that Srinath, Sutram Suresh and other directors of Vikram Investments had cheated him of Rs 27 lakh.
“Dr Balaji has said that he knew Sutram Suresh as he was an LIC agent though whom he had obtained a life insurance policy. The doctor has said that Sutram Suresh took Rs 24 lakh from him and Rs 3 lakh from his son and invested it in Vikram Investments. The doctor has paid the money in January 2017 but he has not got any returns from the company,” the Sadashivanagar police said.
According to the Mico Layout Police, a gynaecologist based in BTM Layout, Dr Suman Singh, registered a complaint on Wednesday stating that she, too, had invested over Rs 11 crore in Vikram Investments.
“Dr Singh has stated in her complaint that Raghavendra Srinath, Sunitha Acharya and wealth manager Narasimha Murthy met her in December 2013. She had invested a little over Rs 11 crore in her son’s and mother’s names. However, she alleges that she has not received the rate of interest promised to her and that she was cheated of her money. She says that she had been demanding that the company return her money but was being dodged,” an officer at Mico Layout Police Station said.
Soon after news of Vikram Investments hit the news on Monday, two additional FIRs were registered at the Jayanagar Police Station on Tuesday, where once again Srinath, Sunitha and Narayana Murthy have been accused of cheating two more doctors.
The two complainants, Dr Brunda Channappa and Dr DC Mahesh have also alleged that their family members were duped by Vikram Investments.
“Dr Brunda Channappa has stated that 11 of her family members had invested over Rs 3 crore in Vikram Investments since January 2014. Dr Mahesh has alleged that five of his family members have invested a total of Rs 5 crore. Both doctors were initially approached by Narasimha Murthy, who had promised to pay returns twice every year. Once in January and once more July. The complainants say that the payments stopped in January this year,” the Jayanagar police say.
A senior police officer told TNM that the police now suspect that at least 50 doctors were duped by Srinath, his wife Sunitha, Sutram Suresh and Narasimha Murthy.
“We are questioning the suspects to see how many more doctors were duped,” he added.
The huge scandal that emerged from Bengaluru, has police suspect that at least 800 people were duped by a ponzi-scheme that was being run by city-based Vikram Investments. While the scam came to light after a local businessman complained, many prominent film and sportspersons have also been reportedly duped by the scheme.
These include bigwigs like Rahul Dravid, Saina Nehwal and Prakash Padukone, Banashankari inspector Puttuswamy confirmed to TNM.