Loan fraud: Bengaluru firm dupes 2,000 students of Rs 18 crore, CEO held

The police have identified the arrested as Sreenivas CEO of Geeklurn. They are yet to arrest the other accused Raman P C, chief financial officer, and Aman, Operations head. Geeklurn operates from an office near Southend Circle in Jayanagar.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) P Krishnakanth revealed that the alleged fraud scheme was operating in neighbouring states as well, with authorities from Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh seeking custody of the prime accused, Sreenivas.

The incident came to light when a 26-year-old student, who had enrolled in Geeklurn’s 24-month data science course in December, lodged a complaint against the CEO and other executives, accusing them of cheating.

According to the complainant, the agreement between him and the accused involved raising a loan in his name, with the EMI (equated monthly installment) being transferred to his bank account as a scholarship.

“The firm was supposed to continue paying the EMI until the student secured an employment, after which the responsibility would shift to the student. However, the accused failed to honour the agreement. They stopped depositing the EMIs into the student’s account from the third month and demanded the remaining payments, stating that the agreement had been cancelled for unknown reasons. The student, who had not completed the online course and was unemployed, found it unable to fulfill the payment obligations,” said an officer.

Following the initial complaint, 13 more students came forward with similar allegations of being deceived by Geeklurn officials, the police said. The prime accused has been taken into custody for further interrogation.