CEO of Diginal India arrested in Hyd for running Rs 15-cr fake job racket

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad police arrested a 27-year-old man, identified as Deepak Sharma of north-east Delhi and CEO of Diginal India Pvt. Ltd., for running a book digitisation scam and cheating people to the tune of Rs. 15 crores.

Deepak was arrested at his Hyderabad branch office in Banjara Hills by the EOW team, CCS, DD, Hyderabad. He was booked under section 5 of TSPDFE Act and sections 3 and 4 of Prize Chits and Money Circulation (Banning) Act 1978 in north-east Delhi on 17 November and is being produced before a court for judicial remand.

Deepak Sharma, the CEO of Diginal India Pvt. Ltd. which is registered at Ghaziabad in NCR Delhi, opened an office in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad during the period July 2021 to June 2022. He along with other accused persons offered work-from-home jobs to digitize and scan old novels and books.

He advertised his scheme through newspapers and bulk SMSs. Under the scheme, 10,000 pages were to be digitised within 25 days at Rs. 50,000. In this way, the gang collected caution deposits of Rs. 1 lakh. In addition, they also offered free scanners and said they have MOUs with NGOs in the US and Europe.

Many people approached the accused at his Banjara Hills office and he promised them jobs. About 620 people joined as members and Deepak collected about Rs. 15 crores from them in the guise of caution deposits. He issued receipts for the period July 2021 and June 2022. He paid the victims for 3-4 months and finally closed the office at Banjara Hills and Ghaziabad in June 2022. He absconded with the caution deposits. Other accused persons in the case who have been arrested earlier are Syed Sameer Uddin (27), Ashis Kumar @ Ashish (33), and Amit Sharma (36). All worked at Diginal India's office in Ghaziabad, UP.