Hyderabad police arrest six in alleged IGNITE MLM fraud, probe international links

Hyderabad Police arrested six people allegedly linked to the IGNITE multi-level marketing scheme. Investigators claim victims were promised high profits, asked to buy products and recruit members. Police suspect an international network and are pursuing key accused reportedly based abroad.

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad police arrested six individuals who were running a multi-level marketing scheme and allegedly duping the public of huge amounts of money on pretext of high income and profits.

The arrested are Oneal Gupta, Dinesh Kumar Saahil, Priyanshu Saxena, Praveen Kumar Dakalia, Paritosh Kumar Dakalia and Riyaz, who played different roles in the IGNITE company.

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According to the Hyderabad Police Commissioner, VC Sajjanar, IGNITE’s headquarters are located in Hong Kong and the company ran operations throughout India, and cases are registered against the founder of the company, Pathman Senathirajah, and others in different States in the country.

“Senathirajah, Managing Director, Adly Hassan, and Oneal Gupta operated QNET. After the police action, they started IGNITE company and started the multilevel marketing business, which is nothing but cheating people on pretext of high income,” he said.

Over a period of 25 years, the gang under different names such as GoldQuest, QuestNet, QNet/Vihaan and IGNITE cheated several persons to the tune of hundreds of crores.

“We acted within 18 days after the IGNITE company was started in the city. Three FIRs were registered, and investigation started to prevent people from falling victim to the fraud,” said Sajjanar.

In all three cases, an amount of Rs 60,000 was collected from each victim, and they were asked to sell a magnetic pen, an energy harmonisation aid, and an electric toothbrush. “Our initial investigation revealed that none of the products carries approval from any Indian or International regulatory authority for health or wellness. The victims were told to recruit two new members each to get a refund of their amount,” he said.

The three FIRs registered at Punjagutta, Kachiguda and SR Nagar were later transferred to the Central Crime Station. A special team of the Detective Department started the investigation and nabbed the six suspects in the case.

“The main persons involved in the case are hiding in Hong Kong and other countries; we will be taking up the issue with the Union Government and issue a Red Corner Notice,” Sajjanar added.