According to the complaint, the accused initially demanded ₹25 crore as an advance, claiming that the amount would be paid to the landowners and that the properties would subsequently be registered in the name of his institute.
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The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of Bengaluru City Police has registered a case based on a complaint alleging that an educational institution was cheated of ₹14.5 crore in a fraudulent land deal.The complaint was filed by Vanki Penchaliah, chairman of an educational group and resident of SadashivanagarAccording to the complaint, his institute, which runs educational institutions in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and other States, decided after the COVID-19 pandemic to expand its engineering education operations and acquire land for educational projects.The complainant alleged that in January 2021, one Sistla Viswanath Nagesh, through Prasun Ghosh, introduced four persons as prospective partners who claimed to have access to large parcels of land and properties in and around Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune, Chikkabanavara, Jigani and Anekal.The four individuals were identified in the complaint as Vivek Sangla and Ambika Sangla of Punjab, Prasun Ghosh of West Bengal, and Nilesh Ghosh of Maharashtra, the son of Prasun Ghosh.The complainant alleged that the accused showed them several properties and represented that they were the agreement holders or had rights over the properties. They allegedly offered to facilitate the purchase and registration of the land in favour of the institute.According to the complaint, the accused initially demanded ₹25 crore as an advance, claiming that the amount would be paid to the landowners and that the properties would subsequently be registered in the name of his institute. Following negotiations, the advance amount was allegedly reduced to ₹14.50 crore, with an assurance that the sale deeds would be registered in favour of the complainant’s institution.Trusting these representations, the institute allegedly transferred ₹14.50 crore, while part of the amount was allegedly paid in cash in Bengaluru.The complainant has alleged that the accused had pre-planned the fraud, induced the institution to part with the money and subsequently failed to return the amount or complete the promised property registrations.The CCB has initiated a probe to examine the financial transactions, property documents, agreements and the alleged involvement of all the persons named in the complaint. Published - August 27, 2026 09:50 pm IST
