Another potential financial fraud detected in Bengaluru

In yet another case of suspected financial fraud in Bengaluru, several people have registered complaints against Chennai-headquartered Vishwapriya Financial Services Securities Limited (VFSSL), alleging that it has cheated them of lakhs of rupees.

Four FIRs have been registered at Siddapura and Girinagar police stations in the last few days. The complainants have accused VFSSL, its managing director and other officer-bearers of cheating.

Police said there are many more victims across the city. Most of them are senior citizens residing in South Bengaluru. A list of victims was being prepared and their statements will be recorded in the coming days, police added.

The first complaint was filed at Girinagar police station by 73-year-old Indira Murali on December 29. On the same day, two more victims — Rekha Narayan, 62, and Shanthi M, 50, of Jayanagar — filed complaints with Siddapura police. Another victim, Padmini Balaraman, 75, filed a case on December 30.

According to the complainants, the accused convinced hundreds of people to invest money as fixed deposits (FD) in their firm between 2012 and 2016 on the promise of 10.47% interest. But they did not return the interest or principal amount to the investors.

The main accused is Subramanian R, the managing director and founder of the company. He along with a few others — Narayan R, Raja Rathnam, Raghavan T S, Srimathi, Sadanand P and Rajendra Kumar — have been accused of cheating investors, who allege the total fraud is around Rs 250 crore.

Indira had deposited Rs 5.05 lakh in 2012 and 2013. Padmini says she had deposited Rs 52.43 lakh in 2012. Rekha deposited Rs 10.53 lakh in 2012 and 2013, while Shanthi deposited Rs 3.3 lakh.

Harish Pandey, deputy commissioner of police (South), said, “The total loss of the victims who have filed complaints is within Rs 1 crore. We can estimate the overall fraud after investigations.”

In Bengaluru, VFSSL offices were located at Jayanagar and MG Road till they closed them in 2016. The victims allege that Subramanian had threatened that he would use political influence if they file any complaint against him.

A case of cheating, criminal intimidation and The Karnataka Protection of Interest Depositors in Financial Establishment Act has been registered.

Subramanian, who founded the retail chain Subhiksha and also ran a chit fund scheme, was arrested in 2018 on charges of defrauding Bank of Baroda for Rs 77 crore and investors of his chit fund scheme Vishwapriya Finance Services of Rs 150 crore.

Since then, the ED has been attaching the assets worth crores belonging to Subramanian, in various tranches. There have been multiple allegations of fund embezzlement and fraud against him.