Accused worked with MNCs before

Hyderabad: Main accused K Sharath Chandra, who was nabbed by Cyberabad police along with five others in the

illegal

money lending apps case, has good academic qualifications and worked in top MNCs before launching his own business.

On questioning, Sharath Chandra tried reasoning with police, claiming he has tie-up with nine non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) to disburse loans through the money lending apps, operated by his companies, Onion Credit Pvt Ltd and Credfox Technologies Pvt Ltd.

However, police found that out of the three apps being operated by the accused only two — Cash Mama and Loan Zone — had tie-ups with nine NBFCs operating from other states.

“The third money lending app, operated by Sharath Chandra and others, did not have any tie-up with NBFCs and staff of his call centres were threatening clients and harassing their families which is illegal,” Cyberabad commissioner VC Sajjanar said.

Sharath Chandra, who finished engineering from Bangalore University and then pursued MS from Texas A&M International University, has worked in the US in business intelligence sector before returning to India about six years ago.

Subsequently, he pursued MBA from a prominent business school in Gachibowli and worked for a software MNC in Gachibowli before starting his own companies.

“When we pointed out the illegal aspects of the money lending app operations, Sharath claimed it might have happened without his knowledge,” a cyber crime official said.

Cyerabad police have sealed two call centres being operated by Sharath Chandra and the other accused in the city with 110 employees.