He had amassed a fortune by lending money at high rate of interest; used to take blank cheques as security.
He was once a milkman but the modest profession could not provide enough to satiate his greed. He took to the business of lending money at exorbitant interest rates and made a fortune. However, his luck ran out and he was arrested in the city recently.
The east division police arrested the former milkman and his two aides on December 23. The police arrested the main accused, Venkatarama Reddy alias Rama Reddy, 42, his cousin Manjunatha Reddy and aide Jagadish. The police said Reddy was a milkman in Kodihalli but took to lending money at an interest rate of 10%-15%. He used to lend money to businessmen, realtors and builders. As security, he used to collect blank cheques, promissory notes and blank bonds from the debtors.
On the blank bonds, which bore the signature of the debtors, Reddy wrote that the debtor was handing him over his property. Also, he used to write a large amount on the blank cheques and submit them in banks. He used to file cases against the signatory when the cheque bounced.
The police said he even assaulted many people who could not return the money along with the interest he demanded.
Investigation revealed that Reddy had fleeced many people by claiming that he was building residential complexes.
He promised them flats and collected money. This way, he accumulated money and built a house worth more than Rs2 crore, a residential complex in Kodihalli, bought 30 guntas of land and a site in Kodathi village, one acre land in Devalapura and seven acres near Bangarpete. He bought all the properties in the name of his wife, Suguna.
The police said the people he cheated were scared of filing complaint against him. However, one of his victims, Biju Sebastian, filed a complaint with DCP (east) K Chandra Sekhar, who referred the case to JB Nagar police. The police registered the case on December 22 and Reddy was arrested along with his aides. Banaswadi police inspector T Rangappa investigated the case.
The police seized a car, 75 blank cheques, 34 blank bond papers, a promissory note, two LIC bonds, registration books of six autorickshaws and 13 documents related to land from him. Also, the police seized `18 lakh cash, 27 blank cheques, 22 stamp papers and other documents from Manjunatha Reddy, besides seizing 15 blank cheques from Jagadish.
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