Police arrest realtor for cheating buyers of Rs 11 cr

Hyderabad: The Raidurgam Police on Wednesday arrested Saranala Sreedhar Rao, the managing director of Sandhya Convention, for cheating the public to the tune of Rs 11.24 crore.

According to the police, the accused, Sreedhar Rao, 45, had cheated the victims on the pretext of selling property and was booked under sections 406, 420, 506, 509 of the IPC.

“Sreedhar Rao had told Sreenivasa Hosamane, the complainant, and 11 others that he was developing a property — under Survey Nos. 86, 87, 88, 90, 91 and 92 — at Pan Maktha in Raidurgam and offered to sell space on the fifth floor, admeasuring 25,898.81 square feet, for Rs 17.04 crore. They entered into an agreement wherein the complainant and other partners paid an amount of Rs 11.24 crore to Sreedhar Rao. The property was supposed to be handed over to the buyers by June, 2018. However, Rao failed to do so and stopped responding to their calls and messages. He even refused to register the property in the name of the buyers even though they were ready to pay the balance consideration amount to him,” explained the Police Inspector of Raidurgam G. Rajagopala Reddy.

When the complainant insisted that Rao hand over the property to them, the police said he started threatening and abusing them. He also claimed that he intentionally did not hand over the property or refund them the money with an interest.

“Following an investigation, we placed Saranala Sreedhar Rao under arrest on Wednesday and produced before the court for a judicial remand. He was remanded for 14 days of judicial custody,” the official said.

Sources said another person had also complained to the Cyberabad police against Sreedhar Rao claiming that he too was not paid for his cellar work in Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

So far, seven victims have lodged complaints against Sreedhar Rao at the Gachibowli, Rayadurgam and Narsingi police stations.