Ex-IAS officer booked for ‘cheating’ US-based entrepreneur

Hyderabad: The Central Crime Station (CCS) has registered a fresh case of cheating against retired IAS officer Dayachari Ponnekanti and APIND Financial Services Pvt Ltd for allegedly defrauding a US-based software entrepreneur of half a million dollars in the name of a purported sea sand mining venture in Indonesia.The CCS registered the case under Section 420 (cheating) of the IPC against Dayachari and APIND on Feb 18 following a complaint by Vikramaditya Boppudi, CEO of Prime Solutions Inc in Washington DC.
Vikramaditya accused Dayachari, former chairman of Tobacco Board and the director general of MCRHRD Institute, of enticing him to invest in what they claimed was a "turn-key, govt-cleared" export project to supply marine sand to Singapore in 2012.The complainant said the retired bureaucrat presented an official-looking documents bearing govt of India emblems during meetings held at his Jubilee Hills office and insisted half a million dollars be transferred immediately to accounts in Hyderabad, Singapore, US and Thailand. Vikramaditya told police he transferred $540,000, equivalent to about Rs 3.16 crore, in 2012 after being promised a 16.67% stake in the proposed joint venture.He said Dayachari acknowledged receipt of the money in Nov 2013 through emails and repeatedly assured to issue share certificates. "However, despite personal visits to Hyderabad, follow-up mails and multiple memoranda of understanding, the latest one in Sept 2024 promising Rs 8 crore settlement by selling land in Patancheru, no shares or refund materialised," Vikramaditya alleged, while also mentioning about another similar cheating case registered by the CCS on the complaint of a separate NRI investor, Kommineni Kalyana, in 2025 against Dayachari.CCS police said the previous case in which the complainant stated that he was duped of half a million US dollars in 2015 was currently under investigation, and evidence was being collected in the latest one.