Bengaluru Ponzi Scheme Dupes 800 Investors Including Sports Icons Rahul Dravid, Prakash Padukone And Saina Nehwal

Bengaluru, March 12: If you think that only commoners fall pray to Ponzi schemes and pay-and-get-double schemes, this report may change your perception. A bangalore based investment firm has allegedly duped thousands of people, including sporting legends like Rahul Dravid, Prakash Padukone and badminton star Saina Nehwal.

The Bengaluru City Police has said that it has busted a Ponzi scheme run by Vikram Investment Company which has hoodwinked over 800 people by taking deposits from them on pretext of giving them very high returns. The police has claimed that some very eminent personalities and stalwarts from the field of sports, arts, and cinema have been taken for a ride and cheated of their money by the firm.

So far, the police has arrested the owner of the company named Raghavendra Sreenath, Narasimhamurthy, K C Nagaraj and Prahlad and other perpetrators named in the fraud. The most intriguing name, however, is Sutram Suresh who acted as the agent of the firm. Sutram Suresh is a well known sports journalist in Bengaluru city and police suspect that it was he who was instrumental in getting the sports legends into investing their money in the Ponzi scheme.

A News18 report quoted a police officer saying "They have been sent to police custody for 14 days. The gang has duped the investors of over Rs 300 crores. We are verifying the documents".  The police claimed that the accused have mentioned some more names whose bank accounts are being scrutinised.

The company's modus operandi was to promise the investors of over 40% return on investment on the principal amount. No sports person or other prominent name has reacted to the police claim. But as and when they do, it will be interesting to see how the police investigate the case and whether the investors will get their hard earned money back. More investor education workshops and seminars must be held in order to educate people about safe investing methods so that they don't fall pray to such Ponzi schemes.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 12, 2018 05:51 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).