IITian’s death: Police suspect link to cheating case

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The recent mysterious death of a 65-year-old IITian A.K. Rao near the railway track at Yelahanka has taken an interesting turn as the police now suspect that the death may be linked to a cheating case filed by a realtor a week ago.

Rao was found dead on November 23 near the Yelahanka railway station. He is a resident of Banjara Hills in Hyderabad, and father of a well-known Telugu singer Harini.

The realtor, P Girish (48), was looking for a loan of Rs 150 crore for a project. Rao and his friend had reportedly approached Girish to help him get the loan amount at a low interest rate from a finance firm named Ace Venture Capital Finance Company, located at Krishna Na g ar in Bengaluru.

The firm owner, Daniel Armstrong, agreed to release the loan amount, but demanded that a three month pre-interest charges and a commitment amount, totalling Rs 5.55 crore, should be credited to the firm’s account.

The realtor complied, but then the finance firm owner went incommunicado. A frustrated Girish filed a complaint at Suddaguntepalya police station on November 18. In his complaint, Girish had named Armstrong and his staff members Vivekananda, Raghavan and others. The said transaction has happened between August 1 and November 17.

Girish has stated that he owns a real estate company and was looking for a loan for a project. In August, Murali and A.K. Rao had approached him and assured of getting a loan from Ace Venture Capital Finance Company. “On August 8, the finance firm agreed to issue a loan of Rs 150 crore. Girish is said to have had a meeting with the finance company’s owner Armstrong on the next day. Agreeing to Armstrong’s condition, Girish is said to have remitted Rs 5.55 crore to the finance firm’s bank account on November 15. But from the next day Ar mstrong, and those against whom the complaint has been filed, went missing,” said an officer on part of investigations.

Rao was called for questioning by the police, but the next day he was found dead.“There is no complaint against Rao. We suspect that he might have been mentally disturbed over the developments and ended his life,” the officer added.

A case of criminal breach of trust (IPC 406) and cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property (IPC 420) has been registered against the suspects. The police are also contemplating to charge the three suspects with abetment of Rao’s suicide.