The police said that the kingpin, Muppala Mallikarjuna, 36, of Nellore, had 81 tonnes of chebulic myrobalan, known as Karakkaya nuts, and offered victims Rs 300 per kilogram for turning the nuts into powder. On this pretext, he sought a deposit of Rs 1,000 per kilogram through a company Soft Integrate Multi Tools Pvt. Ltd. set up in KPHB Colony for the purpose. — Representational Image/DC File
Hyderabad: As many as 12 victims of the ‘Karakkaya scheme’, wherein hundreds were duped of over Rs 3.75 crore by fraudsters who sought deposits for the sale of chebulic myrobalan nuts in 2018, were on Sunday handed cheques by the police for the amount they were cheated of.
The police have identified 269 more victims and said they will get bank credits of amounts on a pro-rata basis, after over Rs 73.53 lakh was released through auctions of the properties of the accused.
The police said that the kingpin, Muppala Mallikarjuna, 36, of Nellore, had 81 tonnes of chebulic myrobalan, known as Karakkaya nuts, and offered victims Rs 300 per kilogram for turning the nuts into powder. On this pretext, he sought a deposit of Rs 1,000 per kilogram through a company Soft Integrate Multi Tools Pvt. Ltd. set up in KPHB Colony for the purpose.
The kingpin, along with nine other accused, are suspected to have duped around 423 persons to the tune of Rs 3,75,87,000, as they fled after collecting the money.
Cyberabad police commissioner Stephen Raveendra said, “During the course of investigation, 10 accused were arrested and sent to judicial custody and the court had appointed an auction committee, which conducted a public auction of all the seized properties, including vehicles and gold ornaments, through e-auction and physical auction in different phases in a transparent manner and completed the process by duly depositing the accrued amounts in the competent authority’s account. Meanwhile, special teams of the economic offences wing, Cyberabad, verified the KYC details of all the victims and collected their bank account, PAN and Aadhaar numbers, as per the court directions.”
The auction committee appointed chartered accountant A.V.S.K. Karthik, who submitted a report listing the details of verified victims, following which the reimbursement was initiated.
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