Man arrested for selling fictitious plots to customers

Hyderabad: A man has been arrested for allegedly cheating hundreds of customers of Rs 25 crore by carrying out double registration of residential plots, police said on Monday.

Yellapragada Prabhakar alias Sharma, a native of Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh, had purchased 36 acres of land in Kothur mandal of Mahabunagar district of Telangana state in 2011, said a release issued by the DGP's office. Prabhakar allegedly chose to market his Veda Gayatri Agraharam venture as a Brahmins only residential project, the release said.

He carried out aggressive advertisement campaigns about Vedagayatri Goshala, Veda Pathashala, Sri Gayatri Gyanapeetam, Veda Gayatri IAS Academy and old age homes, among others, the release said.
He then fraudulently sold 936 residential plots (as per registered documents available) admeasuring 200 square yards, though he made layouts of merely 441 residential plots on 36 acres of land and allegedly cheated people by selling them plots with fictitious numbers, it said.

According to statements of accounts in the name of the accused and the Veda Gayatri Agraharam which were obtained from various banks, an amount Rs 25,19,29,723 was deposited by customers, which the accused withdrew, the release said.

According to the release, Prabhakar confessed to have resorted to double registration of fictitious plots, which were sold to customers to make easy money.

Prabhakar had allegedly been arrested by the police for fraudulent transactions earlier, but later jumped bail and continued to do the same, it said.

Kothur police registered a case against him based on a complaint by a victim, Siva Rama Krishna, in February this year, under Section 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating), while he was arrested on August 7, it said.

Source:PTI