Bengaluru: CCB busts rice-pulling gang, three held; cash and cars seized

Three men have been arrested by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) in connection with a rice-pulling racket that has cheated people of lakhs of rupees.

The suspects, Natesh V R alias Venkataramana, Venkatesh, and Somashekar, were taken into custody. Natesh is a retired City Armed Reserve (CAR) constable, while Somashekar is an auto-rickshaw driver and Venkatesh is a lorry driver.

The gang would cheat people by convincing them they had a rice-pulling machine (tumbler) that could earn them crores of rupees, taking money from them and then disappearing.

Also Read | Man kills lover after celebrating her birthday in Bengaluru, arrested

The CCB seized a Mercedes-Benz, a Toyota Fortuner, and a Mahindra Scorpio, along with 1,332 grams of gold jewellery and Rs 28 lakh in cash.

The arrests were made based on a complaint filed by Lourdu Shilpa, a business owner from JP Nagar, who, along with her friends Raghavendra S H and Uday Chandra, lost around Rs 96 lakh to the gang in the past 18 months.

The gang had promised them they were selling rice-pulling machines legally with permission from government departments and the Reserve Bank of India, asking them to invest Rs 27 lakh to get Rs 1 crore. They took Rs 26 lakh and Rs 23 lakh from Shilpa and Rs 15 lakh from Raghavendra and Rs 5 lakh from Udhay Chandra until February this year.

Police said Natesh was involved in similar cases of cheating in Nanjangud and Konanakunte police stations in 2021 and was also named in a case registered at the Madanayakanahalli police station a few months ago. He indulged in the fraud after taking VRS from his service and continued to cheat people even after being arrested by the Nanjangud police last year. The gang even kidnapped a real-estate businessman in January and extorted lakhs of rupees from him.

While the CCB has made three arrests, they are yet to apprehend many other suspects involved in the scam.