In a significant breakthrough, the Gurgaon police have arrested a 30-year-old MBA graduate for his alleged involvement in a sophisticated private loan fraud that duped a city-based garment exporter of a staggering Rs 2.4 crore. The arrest, made on Tuesday, comes nearly two years after the case was first registered.
The Elaborate Scam: Promises of Crore Loans and Low Interest
The victim, identified as the owner of Orient Craft Sweaters Limited, was facing a financial crisis in his business in mid-2023. In May of that year, he was approached by a man named Tarun Manchanda, who introduced him to alleged financiers Vikram and Nitin Garg. The web of deceit expanded when the now-arrested accused, Venam Raju, visited the complainant's office.
Raju, a resident of Kompally in Telangana, presented an enticing offer: he claimed he could arrange loans of up to Rs 100 crore at an interest rate of just 6%. To process this, he collected sensitive documents from the exporter, including bank statements and buyer projections. To build credibility, the complainant was even taken to Hyderabad, where he was introduced to another key accused, Srinivas Kandola, and shown high-value loan agreements.
Gaining Trust and Executing the Fraud
The group then formalized two loan offers: a short-term loan of Rs 2.5 crore and a long-term loan of Rs 40 crore for five to seven years, both at the promised 6% rate. They demanded advance interest for the larger Rs 40 crore loan. In a clever move to gain the victim's complete confidence, the accused transferred Rs 2.2 crore to his account in early June 2023, labeling it as part of the short-term loan.
This transfer was, as police later uncovered, merely a tactic. "The short-term loan was used to gain trust before cheating the complainant in the name of advance interest," Raju admitted during interrogation. Once the trust was established, the fraudsters proceeded to cheat the businessman of a total of Rs 2.4 crore.
Arrest and Ongoing Investigation
The case was officially reported to the Economic Offences Wing-I (EOW-I) of Gurgaon police on September 27, 2023. Following intensive technical investigation and inputs from EOW-I, Venam Raju was tracked down and arrested. Police revealed that a sum of Rs 50 lakh from the cheated amount was transferred to Raju's bank account as his share of the illicit proceeds.
Raju was produced before a local court in Telangana and brought to Gurgaon on a four-day transit remand. Police spokesperson Sandeep Kumar stated that after the remand period, the accused will be taken into police custody for crucial next steps. "The accused will be taken into police custody for recovery of the cheated amount, identification of absconding associates and collection of documents and digital evidence," Kumar said.
The investigation continues as authorities work to apprehend the other accused, including Srinivas Kandola, Tarun Manchanda, Vikram, and Nitin Garg, who remain at large.
