Every time you think that the world is not all that bad and there is still some good left for us, we’re jolted back to reality. As Indians, we are not new to news of scams and frauds. After Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi, you might just be thinking you’ve seen it all. But alas, there’s more.
Former Indian cricketer and captain, Rahul Dravid recently filed a complaint against a Bengaluru Ponzi firm called Vikram Investments, for duping him of ₹4 crores.
As per a News18 report, the case has been Banashankari police who is investigating this scam which is worth about ₹500 crore. The firm is said to have duped 800 investors by promising 40% returns.
Dravid had invested about ₹20 crores in the firm with the expectation of getting greater returns. However, the firm has only returned ₹16 crores of the principal amount.
The MD of the firm, Raghavendra Sreenath has been arrested along with 4 agents, namely, Sutram Suresh, Narasimhamurthy, KC Nagaraj and Prahlad. They have revealed the names of the investors and the police are investigating their bank accounts.
A police officer said,
“They have been sent to police custody for 14 days. The gang has duped the investors of over Rs 300 crore. We are verifying the documents.”
Of the four agents arrested, Suresh is a known sports journalist in Bengaluru. Given his background, the police think he was instrumental in getting sport-celebrities like Dravid, Prakash Padukone and Saina Nehwal in such Ponzi schemes.
The investigation is still being carried out and nothing more is known of the scam yet. These days, it is becoming increasingly difficult to trust even those people whom you’ve known personally. After all, you never know where the next scam is brewing and you’re falling to prey to it.