Couple arrested for cheating 200 persons of Rs 48 crore with pre-launch offers

Hyderabad: Chakka Bhaskar, chairman of R. Homes Infra Developments and Sudharani, his wife, accused in a pre-launch offer fraud, were arrested by the Cyberabad economic offences wing (EOW) police. The couple reportedly cheated around 200 customers of `48 crore in the name of pre-launch offers.

The couple is in judicial remand, and the police intend to question them once they get custody. Interestingly, they issued advertisements across platforms and managed to rope in Kapil Dev and music director Koti to endorse the launch offers.

Talking to Deccan Chronicle, Cyberabad EOW DCP K. Prasad said that the couple had been conning people for many years. A case was registered against them in Andhra Pradesh in 2017.

Their modus operandi was to lure people in the name of offering apartments and farmlands at lower than market rates.

The scam came to light when one of their customers, Vadlamudi Vijay Kumar complained that he had invested `65 lakh between 2020 and 2021 and got nothing in return. Around 200 others also fell in the trap. Their ‘projects’ included Bliss Heights in Yamnampet, Ghatkesar; ORR Heights in Kardanur, Patancheru, and farmland projects at Karamungi in Narayankhed, Sangareddy.

The DCP said, “These pre-launch offers are invariably rackets. There will be advertisements in the form of flyers, pamphlets and brochures and distributed across localities. Middle class families are the worst sufferers.”

The DCP added, “We will look into the properties and see if they actually exist. Meanwhile, the amount in any of their bank accounts and their assets will all be frozen.”