Film producers in jail for duping business partners

They are accused of cheating to the tune of Rs 60 lakh

The producers of Kannada film “Ram Sethu” have been remanded in judicial custody after they were arrested by the police on the charge of duping another filmmaker and a BBMP contractor to the tune of Rs 60 lakh.

T G Rama Reddy (50) and his son Dinesh Reddy (31), the producers of “Ram Sethu”, allegedly cheated the film producer-cum-distributor, S Kumar, his wife S Sharada, the BBMP contractor, H Kumar, and his wife B M Dhanalakshmi to the tune of Rs 60 lakh, police said.

The Reddys had received the money from the complainants after entering into a partnership with them in their investment firm, RDJ Sea Foods that has offices near Russell Market, Shivajinagar.

According to police, the suspects incurred heavy losses after their film, starring Rama Reddy’s younger son Balaji Reddy, flopped. In order to recover the losses, they coaxed the victims to invest in their sea food business. They allegedly promised handsome profit on the investments.

The Reddys, however, violated the partnership deed that required them to deposit the cheques of customers into a new account especially opened for the purpose. Instead, they deposited the cheques into their account, thus depriving the investors of the profit, police said.

This way they neither returned the principal amount nor the profit to the investors. Rather they used the sum to pay off their home loans and other liabilities.

When S Kumar sought an explanation on the matter, he was reportedly threatened with dire consequences. An aggrieved Kumar then filed a private complaint before the magistrate court which then directed the Shivajinagar police to lodge a case.

Accordingly, a case under Sections 420 (cheating), 506 (B) (criminal intimidation), and 120 (B) (punishment for criminal conspiracy) of the IPC was booked, and the suspects were arrested on December 31, 2011. The suspects were subsequently remanded in judicial custody by the magistrate concerned, police said.

Rama Reddy is also said to be involved in cheque bounce cases in Ongole in Andhra Pradesh, Chennai and Kannur in Kerala. Police also believe he was running a prostitution racket from a lodge in Shivajinagar where women from Bangladesh and other places were brought on false promise of employment.