Hyderabad: Woman, son held for duping investors in name of restaurant biz

Hyderabad: A woman and her son have been arrested by the Hyderabad Central Crime Station police on charges of cheating investors of several crores by allegedly luring them into investing in their restaurant business in Banjara Hills.

The arrested persons were Nagilla Sukanya and her son Nagilla Jacinth, while Sukanya’s husband Nagilla Rufus, also a suspect, is absconding. They were running a church for several years and recently, established a company and ventured into restaurant business to start Cuba Drive In at Film Nagar in Banjara Hills.

“They started luring people who come to their church and others in their circle with false promises of high returns on a monthly basis and convinced them to invest in their venture. They allegedly collected money from about 30 persons to the tune of Rs.13 crore between 2017 and 2019,” police said.

When the investors, who did not get any returns as promised, started pressuring the family, they resorted to threatening.

Based on a complaint from one Prasad, who was cheated of Rs.1 crore, the CCS police booked a case under various sections including cheating, criminal breach of trust and the Telangana State Protection of Depositors Establishment Act 1999 and arrested them.

Efforts are on to nab Rufus.