Hyderabad:
Police has arrested a man accused of collecting crores of rupees from gullible people in a money circulation scheme.
On a tip-off, the Crime Investigation Department (CID) officers raided the premises of the Chairman of 'Bharat Prem Sadan', Gonugunta Prasad, at Lotus Land Mark in Vijayawada and seized over Rs two crore in cash besides 70 grams gold and two vehicles from him, CID Additional Director General of Police SV Ramana Murthy said.
'Bharat Prem Sadan', registered in Tamil Nadu, was operating in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka besides Tamil Nadu. Four criminal cases (two each in Nellore and Khammam districts) were registered against this organisation, he said.
"This organisation is responsible for collection of huge amounts from the lower middle class people and it collected close to Rs 45 crore in Nellore district alone through 29 main agents," Mr Murthy said.
The cases registered in Nellore district are being investigated by the CID and the cases registered in Khammam district are being investigated by the local police.
Andhra Pradesh police have so far registered 79 cases against various societies, including Heavenly Inter Denominal Mission Trust, Bharat Prem Sadan, Youth and Strength Christian Welfare Association among others in different districts of the state and out of this 17 cases were taken over by CID for investigation.
"After taking over investigation by the CID, we elicited the names of the Trust Members, Coordinators and the main agents who are responsible for forming, inspiring the public and also in collection and misuse of money," the top CID officer said.
The CID has been cautioning people against joining money circulation schemes being operated in the guise of Multi-Level Marketing Schemes (MLM) or Network Marketing (NWM). Such schemes were banned under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Scheme (banning) Act, 1978.