A Hyderabad based self-styled spiritual guru and his brother have been arrested for allegedly cheating people to the tune of over Rs 50 crore through a multi-level marketing (MLM) racket on Monday. The Rachakonda police took E Kumar Girish Singh and his brother, Dileep Singh, into custody based on a complaint filed by a woman.
The woman had alleged that the accused collected Rs 21.78 lakh from her, on the guise of an investment in a social business network. The self-proclaimed spiritual guru even opened an office to operate the scheme named 'DREAM BRIDZ', that assured huge profits for investors within a short period if they enrolled two new members each, a police release said.
Speaking about the modus operandi, the police said that the victims were told to purchase User IDs starting from Rs 1,100 and going up to Rs 66,000. After being allotted the User ID, the concerned person will get few advertisements each day that they have to view and click on.
The users are then asked to enroll new users on the promise that as new users join the scheme, old users will get paid huge sums on a daily basis. If a person invests Rs 1 lakh, they were promised Rs 1 crore in a very short span of 3-6 months, the police release stated.
The self-proclaimed guru promised to invest in businesses like social trade, multi-level digital markets, e-commerce portals, Bitcoin, bank and 'G-coin' (Girish coin) a film production company, airlines, gold and diamond trade, but did not start any business.
Police say more than 30 shell companies have been linked to Girish and his brother and estimate that the duo collected anywhere between Rs 50 crore to Rs 60 crore from his followers and people.
Girish and his family members run 'Advaita Spiritual Recharge Centre for Excellence' and he claims to be a spiritual guru. He used to give sermons at a few local television channels and on YouTube. Police say Girish’s wife who is also accused in the case is presently absconding.
The police have registered cases under Indian Penal Code and the AP Protection of Depositors From Financial Establishment Act and Price Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act.