Unpaid salaries, layoffs and tax violations: Inside the case against Brane Enterprises
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Over 100 former employees of Telangana-based IT firm Brane Enterprises Private Limited have filed a criminal case against the company’s directors for non-payment of salaries amounting to over Rs 17.5 crore. Brane Enterprises is a technology solutions company headquartered in Hyderabad. Previously known as Fractal Enterprises, Brane Enterprises was incorporated in 2020.
The complaint is a recent escalation in a year-long battle for justice and compensation, which began as the company failed to pay full salaries to its employees starting from April 2024. The criminal complaint filed by 118 former employees directly with the X Additional Judicial First Class Magistrate court in Hyderabad on March 21, 2025, cites ‘violations of trust and fraudulent practices’ amounting to ‘criminal breach of trust’, and ‘cheating’ under sub-sections of Sections 316 and 318 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
It accuses the company of illegally retaining salaries for its own use, inducing employees to continue working through promises of salary repayments and defaulting on the submission of PF (Provident Fund) and TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) deducted from salaries to the relevant departments.
The primary shareholders in Brane Enterprises are Deepthi Byrraju, Rahul Raju Byrraju, Sanjay Varma Indukuri, Datla Aruna Kumari and Dendukuri Satyavati. The directors listed for the company are Ramya Priya Rudraraju, Lakkaraju Sashidhar and Penumatcha Anand Gajapathi Raju.
Deepthi and Rahul are the children of Rama Raju Byrraju, the brother of Ramalinga Raju, the founder of Satyam Computers. Ramalinga Raju was convicted and jailed in a case for account falsification and breach of trust in 2015 due to his falsification of revenues amounting to approximately USD 1.5 billion for his company, Satyam Computer Services. Although Ramalinga Raju himself is not directly named in Brane Enterprises as a director, employees have confirmed with TNM that he was frequently present at the office and referred to as ‘the Mentor’.
As of October 23, 2023, Ramalinga Raju’s son, Byrraju Rama Raju, was listed as the Single Beneficial Owner through Vikramaditya Family Trust with an indirect holding of 10% shares.
Multiple legal avenues explored by former employees
The complainants in the case are being represented by advocate Harpreet Singh Saluja, president of Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), an organisation that advocates for workers’ rights.
Harpreet had first filed a police complaint on February 17, 2025, with the Madhapur Police Station in Hyderabad, requesting that the station file an FIR. He said that the police initially acknowledged the complaint but closed it a few days later with no explanation.
He then approached the court in Hyderabad and filed an individual criminal complaint instead. “Since the police didn't hear our complaint and they did not act upon it, we filed a private criminal complaint in the court.”
Alongside the criminal complaint, NITES also filed a complaint with the Ministry of Labour and Employment for the same reasons on March 14, 2025. The Labour Ministry officially acknowledged the complaint on June 4, 2025 and directed the Telangana government to investigate the claims and take necessary action.
TNM spoke to four complainants in the case, three of whom wished to remain anonymous. They told TNM that their salaries for April were delayed and that they had only received a part of their salaries for May 2024.
Many say that they have still not received any salaries from June 2024 onwards. Even though they were paid their salaries for April, the TDS deducted from their payslips was never deposited to the government, making it difficult for them to file their own returns without being penalised. Additionally, according to Harpreet, “For the months of March and April, they deducted the PF, but they have not deposited it to the PF office. The same situation is with TDS also. And then, it becomes a criminal breach of trust and cheating case.”
Despite the delays in salaries, many employees remained at the company due to promises by management that their dues would be paid as soon as the company received money from their clients. Speaking to TNM, Israel Paturi, a former programme manager at Brane, said, “We were shown a carrot saying we would receive the money in 10 days or 15 days, or even a month. And they had made those small payments, sometimes Rs 20,000, Rs 40,000 here and there. So that kept the hope alive.”
All the former employees TNM spoke to confirmed that the firm had barely any clients and was still focused on developing various platforms. A senior-level employee said that they had launched a product in 2024, which was then swiftly recalled to make revisions, with the firm communicating little to its employees about it. “We don’t know whether it went live or whether they have handed over the project. There were no updates,” the employee said.
Beginning in September 2024, Brane also carried out three rounds of layoffs, letting go of more than 1,500 employees. This move came after a period of rapid expansion, when the firm was “hiring aggressively,” according to one of the complainants.
During this period, the company hired exclusively from A-list schools and also hired what were referred to as “transformation partners,” who were senior-level staff from all across the world. Shortly after, they undertook sweeping layoffs, affecting both newly hired employees as well as those with high company ratings. These employees were not paid severance, and several of them are now part of the criminal case, hoping that they will be paid what they were promised.
Till date, the company has also not issued Full and Final settlement statements, which are mandated under labour laws. “Issuing those would confirm that Brane deducted TDS from our salaries but failed to deposit it with the government, which constitutes a serious tax violation,” said one of the complainants. He added that Brane failed to issue Form 16s for the last financial year (FY2024-25). “Those of us who want clean tax records are now being forced to pay the TDS out of our own pockets—an additional financial burden.”
Earlier attempts at resolution failed
Prior to the criminal complaint, employees of Brane Enterprises had also approached the All India Professionals Congress (AIPC), hoping for a resolution to their grievances. On November 17, 2024, employees of Brane attended a public hearing organised by the AIPC to address the injustice perpetrated by the company. The meeting concluded with a memorandum presented to the Telangana IT Minister D Sridhar Babu, which contained five demands—the immediate payment of salaries, government intervention, and the release of severance, PF contributions and other payments.
According to Israel Paturi, the hearing did not yield any positive results. He said, “The AIPC complaint never went forward. We had pinned our hopes on them, saying that at least they'll help us log a case. But that didn't happen.” Ultimately, some former employees approached Harpreet to take their case forward.
However, Itishree Singh, the current point of contact with the AIPC, told TNM that a case has been filed with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
Aside from the case filed with the court and the Labour Ministry, a former employee has also filed a Right to Information (RTI) query about the lack of PF deposits and a complaint with the Central Board of Direct Taxes to look into tax irregularities regarding TDS from last year.
The Mentor
Ramalinga Raju’s son, Byrraju Rama Raju, is named as a “holder of significant beneficial interest” in the company due to his ownership of 10% of the company’s shares through a discretionary trust. His brother’s children, Deepthi Byrraju and Rahul Raju Byrraju, have 15% of shares each.
Former employees that TNM spoke to said Ramalinga Raju was frequently present at the office and was referred to as ‘the Mentor’. Additionally, one of Brane’s former employees told TNM that he was also present at the Transformation Partners Conference held in April 2024, where he made statements about his vision for the company, giving employees the impression that it would be “at the helm of transforming the entire IP landscape across the globe.”
The company primarily developed and sold services related to their product, Natural Solutions Language, for which the patent lists Ramalinga Raju as the inventor. One of the employees called the patented technology Raju’s “brainchild” and stated that their job was to sell this technology. Additionally, some of the demos presented to potential clients as a proof of concept were of other companies earlier owned or founded by Ramalinga Raju, such as CallHealth and the EMRI 108 system, the latter being characterised as the “most prolific” demo by a former employee.
Another former employee of Brane also recalls being asked to travel to Hyderabad multiple times solely to meet Ramalinga Raju and discuss a new project. The employee has still not been reimbursed for any of his travel or accommodation expenses.
He also told TNM that his ESOPs were bought back by the company after a decision was made by Ramalinga Raju to fund the company himself. Although these shares were valued at USD 100 per share, employees were told that they would receive this compensation based on their performance. Even after the termination of his employment, he has not received this compensation.
Outside of the criminal charges and the cases brought against Brane Enterprises in India, the company is also facing a class action lawsuit in the United States of America. Count IV of the charge sheet explicitly declares that “Brane Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. controlled and is liable for debts of [its] subsidiary, Brane Cognitives USA LLC.” This lawsuit has been brought by former employees who were hired as independent contractors and transformation partners who were paid between USD 200,000 and 900,000 a year and are seeking USD 9.6 million in damages.
In India, while the criminal complaint could lead to the accused's imprisonment or fine, the salary arrears, PF, and TDS money can only be claimed after a successful civil lawsuit. Civil lawsuits in Telangana are expensive and require complainants to submit a court fee that is 1% of the claim—roughly Rs 18 lakh in this case—that the employees cannot afford at this point.
Harpreet said that they would file a civil suit after the criminal proceeding, giving employees some more time to arrange money for the court fee.