Hyderabad: Victims of QNet, a multi-level marketing company, who lost their investments with the firm, protested at tennis star Sania Mirza’s residence in Jubilee Hills two days ago. They displayed flexis showing the tennis player with QNet promoters and demanded that she reimburse them. “Sania Mirza stop supporting Money Laundering (Qnet),” read a flexi.
So far, 30 cases have been filed against QNet in Telangana, with Cyberabad accounting for 25 of the cases. Some of them have been taken over by the enforcement directorate (ED), while others are in more preliminary stages of the investigation.
Amid the probe on QNet, the firm is looking to expand in the state’s rural pockets.
A youngster from Suryapet said he was lured into investing Rs 1.5 lakh, as he was promised huge returns. But, he did not receive a return even after waiting for two months.
“My friend introduced me to this business and believing her, I invested. Only after I paid the amount did I get to know about it,” he said.
He said that on visiting the firm’s office in Secunderabad, he was threatened, assaulted and forcefully removed from the building, while the police refused to accept a complaint.
TSRTC MD V.C. Sajjanar, a former Cyberabad police commissioner, asked celebrities to refrain from endorsing QNet because of the alleged investment frauds, on account of which people had lost huge sums of money.
Sajjanar tagged Mirza in a post on Twitter and said: “I humbly request all celebrities to refrain from supporting/promoting QNET & all such Multi-Level Marketing companies which destroys the fiscal system of the country & well knitted social fabric of the society.”
He termed the protests at the tennis star’s residence “unfortunate”.
Sajjanar said that such firms have several ways, including producing permission documents from the government, to lure people. The documents are RoC certificates or fabricated, he said.
“People should understand that if anybody is promising quick money by investing in such schemes, it is a fraud. Without verifying the background of the firm, one should never invest,” he said.
