IT firm shuts after pocketing Rs 3 cr from BE graduates

Life Time Soft-Tech Ltd, a software firm which operated out of Koramangala 5th Block, has been accused of cheating hundreds of BE graduates by pocketing Rs one lakh from each one of them promising well-paying jobs.

Several employees met Kamal Pant, Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), on Wednesday. Shivakumar, one of them, lodged a complaint against the firm and its manager, Khader Wali, at the Koramangala police station.

The firm, which is alleged to have pocketed Rs three crore, had advertised for job vacancies on portals such as Naukri and OLX. It asked the prospective candidates to deposit Rs one lakh as demand draft (DD) favouring the company. After a training period of four months, the company promised to refund the money.

Around 300 candidates deposited Rs one lakh but to their shock the firm was found shut on Tuesday afternoon. Wali as well as CEOs Sunil Nagendra and Javed Basha and HR manager Nagashree were found missing and their mobile phones switched off.

Vidya, one of the victims, said the advertisement promised a monthly salary of Rs 25, 000-30, 000.

She deposited Rs one lakh and joined the firm. All went well for six months until Tuesday when Wali came to office briefly and went away, saying he would return by 4 pm but did not.

“When we called him on his mobile phone, he said the firm operated without a valid licence and that it belongs to a man named Raju Reddy who has pocketed the money and fled. Wali then discontinued the call and his phone is switched off since,” she added.