How many of you know Kola Venkata Krishna Mohan and his Euro lottery scam?
Well going back to November 1998, Kola Venkata Krishna Mohan a compulsive gambler who played cards regularly at high stakes in various clubs in the Vijayawada had lost as much as Rs 30 million in 1998 when a gambling syndicate led by a real estate dealer and a restaurant-owner cheated him.
Then he was on the look-out to make good the losses by hook or crook. During a visit to London, he learnt about the Euro lottery. He staked some money on it in vain. Then, he invented the story that he won the lottery. He created a website and an email address on the Internet with the address 'eurolottery@usa.net.' Whenever accessed, the site would name him as the beneficiary of the 12.5 million pound Euro-lottery.
Later a Telugu newspaper in Hyderabad received an email that a Telugu guy had won the Euro lottery. The website address was given for verification. The newspaper sent the query and got the "confirmation" since Kola Mohan had himself created and manipulated the website. The Telugu daily published the story and other newspapers and the media in general followed suit. Nobody tried to verify the claim at the genuine address of Euro-lottery.
He became a celebrity overnight and began leading a luxurious life. He purchased a costly house and luxury cars. He was provided gunmen by the police for his security. Mohan collected millions of rupees from several individuals and financiers. Banks also lent him money in a bid to attract the Euro deposit. He used this money to pay interest to some creditors to retain their confidence. To repay one loan, he took another.
His fraud came to light when a cheque discounted by him with the Andhra Bank was bounced. Mohan had committed with Andhra Bank the copy of a bond certificate issued by Midland Bank, Sheffields, London stating that a term deposit of 12.5 million was held in his name.
After the cheque bounced, Andhra Bank authorities verified the bond certificate with the Midland Bank. They were shocked to know that the bond certificate was fake. Later, the Andhra Bank branch officials lodged a complaint with police station against Mohan for "cheating and forgery."
He even succeeded in dragging Andhra Pradesh's famously computer literate chief minister, Chandrababu Naidu, into his net. Mr Krishna Mohan responded to an appeal for donations to Mr Naidu's Telugu Desam Party, with a cheque for one million rupees.
Mean while Prakash Raj character from Bachi moive is inspired from this guy!
