Fraudster held for duping people of Rs 30 crore on pretext of digitizing old books in Telangana

The accused collected Rs 30 crore from 700 job aspirants, who later realized that they had been cheated since the salary was not paid even after months, and the advance was not returned either.

Hyderabad: The Central Crime Station (CCS) police in Hyderabad have arrested a fraudster for allegedly duping people of Rs 30 crore in the name of digitizing old books and ancient texts. As per the CCS, the accused identified as Syed Samiruddin (25) from Rajendranagar, started Digital India Private Limited last year. He set up another office in Banjara Hills and advertised part-time job opportunities to earn Rs 1-5 lakhs per month in the digitization of old national and international books.

A man named Amit Sharma campaigned on behalf of Samiruddin in Telangana and North India. Samiruddin later asked the job aspirants to deposit an advance of Rs 10,000 saying that he will return the money later. A total of 700 people deposited Rs 30 crore with Samiruddin. However, the victims realized that he had cheated them since their salary was not paid even after months and the advance was not returned either, an aggrieved businessman from Khammam district, who had paid Rs 5 lakh in advance to Samiruddin, complained to the city CCS police.

Likewise, a housewife from Banjara Hills paid Rs 9 lakhs to Samiruddin, the CCS said. Many people belonging to middle-class families who pledged their jewelry and took loans and paid lakhs of rupees in the hope of getting employment are worried about whether they will get back the hard-earned money they have lost. A case was registered on the 6th of July.

CCS ACP S.V.Harikrishna headed by SSI M Krishna's team took up the investigation and arrested the accused on Wednesday and sent him to judicial remand.