The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : CoD files Vinivinc charge-sheet

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

CoD files Vinivinc charge-sheet

Staff Reporter

Property worth Rs 10.94 crore seized

Bangalore: The Corps of Detectives has filed charge sheets against Srinivas Shastry and 19 others of the Vinivinc for allegedly cheating people across the State. The police had been able to recover lands, sites and other property worth nearly Rs. 11 crore.

Srinivas Shastry, Vinivinc president; G. Lokesh, its vice-president; and 18 others were accused of cheating people of returns on the investments made in the firm.

The investors, who teachers, policemen and politicians, were promised 12 per cent interest, which the firm failed to honour, leading the victims to file complaints.

Fourteen cases were filed in Bangalore, Shimoga, Dakshina Kannada, Shimoga, Mysore, Tumkur and Raichur districts were filed between November 2005 and October 2006. Of the five cases filed in Bangalore, one was pertained to an allegation by a person of being cheated of Rs. 18 lakh. The Corps of Detectives was asked to investigate all the 14 cases which involved investments of Rs. 203.63 crore.

During the course of investigation, the police took statements of 247 witnesses. “These witnesses are those who have invested in the firm. It was a painstaking effort to decipher this information from Shastry’s computer, trace the investors and get their statements in the necessary format,” said Director-General of Police (CoD) Ajai Kumar Singh.

They have recovered 10 computers, 56 computer hard discs and four laptops.

Property recovered

Among the property recovered from the accused include 25 acres of land in Hoskote taluk, 49 sites of various dimensions in Yelahanka, two houses in Banashankari and Avalahalli.

They have recovered Rs. 3.9 crore, demand drafts for Rs. 1.18 lakh and gold and silver estimated at Rs. 86 lakh. Sixteen cars, two tractors and two scooters have been recovered.

“These are all the proceeds of the investment,” Mr. Singh told presspersons on Wednesday.

About Rs. 1,477 crore had been invested in shares. Of this, Rs. 1,447 crore had been invested in India Bulls, Rs. 3.77 crore in Ruksha Capital Shares and Rs. 29.3 crore in Sharekhan transaction. “We could account for most of the shares except for Rs. 14 crore, which Shastry attributed to losses,” Mr. Singh said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka