Three of the four Chinese nationals arrested in December 2020 for allegedly operating instant loan apps that used harsh recovery methods have gotten bail. Cases were booked against these Chinese nationals across two police commissionerates in Hyderabad. However, their bails were secured after one commissionerate failed to file chargesheets within 90 days of arrest.
Only the Hyderabad commissionerate had filed a preliminary charge sheet to prevent bail for one of the key accused in the loan app cases. Reports suggest that three Chinese nationals secured bail after Cyberabad cyber crime police delayed filing chargesheets. Rachakonda ACP Harinath told TNM that theic case did not involve these individuals.
The Hyderabad commissionerate had arrested Chinese national Zhu Wei alias Lambo in December 2020. Lambo, 27-years old at the time of his arrest, was taken into custody from Delhi Airport, allegedly while attempting to flee India. The Hyderabad police filed two chargesheets against Lambo in May this year, preventing bail. The Cyberabad and Rachakonda commissionerate too had made the arrests in the instant loan app case in December. The cases were booked against these loan apps after four loan defaulters died by suicide.
The loan apps offer small amounts as loans and for short durations with no collateral. However, once a default happens, these loan apps, through their call centres, adopt harsh recovery methods, such as threatening calls and fake legal notices. The app, when installed, gains complete access to the loan defaulter’s phone contact details, gallery, text messages, emails, location and other details.
The Cyberabad police in December arrested Yi Bai alias Dennis hails from Jiangxi in Shanghai, along with three other Indians. They were running a call centre in Hyderabad under the name Cubevo Technology Private Limited’ with a head office Skyline Innovations Technologies India Private Limited, in Delhi. The gang is accused of developing 11 instant loan applications. Zixia Zhang, another Chinese national, said to be the mastermind of the operation and one Umapati alias Ajay was absconding. Yi Bai has now secured bail.
In December three persons were arrested from Pune by the Rachakonda police, identified as Parshuram Lahu Takve, his wife Liang Tian Tian, and Aaqib Shaik. Parshuram was director of Jiya Liang InfoTech Private Limited but the day-to-day operations of the call centre were run by Lian Tian Tian. The gang operated over 16 loan apps, according to the police.
In January the Rachakonda commissionerate arrested Jian alias Mark, a native of Jiangxi in China, from Thane, Maharashtra. He is accused of representing three Chinese nationals Xu Nan, Xu Xinchang, and Zhao Qiao. The three men are directors at several loan apps companies. Apart from Dennis, both Liang Tian Tian and Jian are also now out on conditional bail, reported the Times of India. Officials with the Rachakonda commissionerate told the paper that the chargesheet in the case will be filed within a few weeks