Indus Viva scam: PD Act invoked against four who had cheated people to tune of ₹1.5cr
By Newsmeter Network Published on 1 May 2021 1:00 PM GMT
Hyderabad: As part of the ongoing drive against repeat offenders who disturb public order, the Cyberabad commissioner of police V.C Sajjanar on 1 May invoked the Preventive Detention Act against four persons who were involved in the Indus Viva Health Sciences Pvt. Ltd. scam.
Abhilash Thomas, Prem Kumar, Subramaniyam, and Imadulla Sharif were detained in the Cherlapally Central prison in Medchal district. The four had cheated around 10 lakh people across the country in the guise of direct selling and collected Rs. 1,500 crores from them.
More money for more enrollments
The Bengaluru-based Indus Viva Health Sciences Pvt. Ltd. was making money illegally through multilevel marketing schemes by promising members huge commissions. Under the company's binary scheme, a person had to pay Rs. 12,500 to become a member and buy the company's products for which then s/he was awarded 100 Point Value, user ID, and password to continue the scheme. After this, the member had to enroll two others - one person on the left and one on the right who each paid Rs. 12,500. The member who enrolled these two earned Rs. 1,000 as bonus. However, in order to get these benefits, the member had to enroll two others within a week.
A member earned more money by enrolling more people. This is in contravention of PC MCS (Banning) Act 1978 and direct selling guidelines issued by the Telangana government in 2017, the Cyberabad police said.
Under the company's President Club Member (PCM) Plan, a person has to pay Rs. 1,50,000 to join. Anyone who joined PCM was promised an opportunity to dine with the CEO of the company in Bengaluru. Meanwhile, under the Power of Duplication plan, a person who enrolled 256 members in 30 months was promised Rs. 2,56,000. Depending on the enrolment of members, various ranks were awarded to achievers and given other incentives like foreign tours and luxury cars.
In this way, the four accused had cheated people across the country. Two cases were registered against them in Gachibowli and RC Puram police stations. The EOW police arrested the four accused on 5 March 2021 and lodged them in Cherlapalli Central Prison.
With a view to prevent them from indulging in criminal activities again and to maintain public order, Mr. Sajjanar invoked the PD Act against them on Saturday.
