VPVV chairman, 2 directors held in ₹700-crore investment scam
Delhi Police arrested VPVV chairman Venkitta Venkittu and two directors for a ₹700-crore scam, faking an arms manufacturing contract with the US. Over 500 victims lost money, with ₹200 crore lost in Kerala.
Delhi Police arrested VPVV chairman Venkitta Venkittu and two directors for a ₹700-crore scam, faking an arms manufacturing contract with the US. Over 500 victims lost money, with ₹200 crore lost in Kerala.
Delhi Police arrested VPVV chairman Venkitta Venkittu and two directors for a ₹700-crore scam, faking an arms manufacturing contract with the US. Over 500 victims lost money, with ₹200 crore lost in Kerala.
Kochi/New Delhi: The Delhi Police have arrested three people, including VPVV company chairman Venkitta Venkittu, in connection with the ₹700-crore investment scam built around a fake contract to manufacture arms in India for the US Department of Defense.
Venkittu, a resident of Curzon Road in Kollam, was taken into custody from Hyderabad four days ago, while the company’s directors, Delhi native Hitesh Kumar and Rahul Rajeev Nair of Koothattukulam in Ernakulam, were arrested by the Delhi Police Special Squad in the capital. The mastermind of the scam, known as ‘Doctor Saab’, remains absconding.
Malayala Manorama was the first to bring the full details of this massive fraud into the public domain through a series of reports.
The three accused, who were remanded in judicial custody, have been taken into police custody for questioning. Abhinav Paul, a Kolkata native and head of VPVV’s IT division, was also taken into custody on Friday.
₹200 crore lost in Kerala alone
More than 500 people across several States have fallen victim to the fraud, including over 100 in Kerala who lost around ₹200 crore. More victims have since approached Vasant Vihar police station in Delhi with complaints. The arrests were made in connection with two cases registered at this police station.
The fraud was carried out in the name of a non-existent agreement called the ‘Indo-US Pacific Peace Treaty’. The company forged documents bearing the national emblems of India and the US and used them to convince individuals and institutions that it had secured a contract to manufacture arms in India for the US Department of Defense.
In Kerala, as many as seven cases have been registered in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Ernakulam districts in connection with the fraud. The Kerala Police investigation, however, was stalled under the influence of retired Police Superintendents V R Vijayappan and K N Rajeev and retired DySP Antony Thomas, who have acted as agents for the VPVV company in the State. The Kerala High Court had earlier rejected an anticipatory bail plea moved by Vijayappan in a case registered by Palarivattom police.