Telangana CID arrests cooperative society chairman, his son for duping 2,000 investors of Rs 140 crore

Hyderabad: The Crime Investigation Department (CID) on Tuesday arrested the chairman of a multi-state cooperative society limited and his son for allegedly duping more than 2,000 investors and employees of about Rs 140 crore. The arrested accused have been identified as Thippeneni Ramadasappa Naidu, 61, chairman of Mudra Agriculture Skill Development multi-state cooperative society ltd and his son, 43-year-old Thippeneni Sai Kiran. CID officials arrested Naidu from Amaravati in AP, while his son and society member, Sai Kiran, was arrested from Hyderabad. Both were produced before a court and remanded to judicial custody on Tuesday.According to CID, Naidu floated the cooperative society in 2017 and marketed it as a govt-backed entity on the lines of the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana. He also gave advertisements for the recruitment of 2,000 govt marketing supervisor jobs and high-interest investment bonds that would convert into shares of a proposed co-operative bank. Applicants were made to deposit money as share capital.“Altogether 330 branches were opened in two Telugu states and around 1,600 employees were hired to mobilise funds from daily-wage workers, farmers and small traders across Telangana and AP. The accused used to slash salaries of workers if they failed to achieve investment collection targets,” CID SP K Venkata Lakshmi said.The money collected through a fraudulent scheme was parked in industrial plots purchased through APIIC in Anantapur district of AP. Some properties were purchased in the Keesara area too, CID sources said.From 2020 onwards, victims started lodging police complaints against the accused and till 2022, 10 cheating cases were booked against the accused at Nallakunta, Kacheguda, Gambhiraopet, Ramayampet, Dubbaka, Vemulawada, Achampet, and Atmakur. All the cases are currently under investigation by the CID, Telangana. CID is analysing the fund trail to identify additional conspirators and assets.