Jailed businessman Raj Kundra, who allegedly made crores through a porn racket, has now been accused of duping thousands of businessmen from across the country. The traders have alleged that they had invested in Game Of Dot (GOD), an online cricket game by Viaan Industries owned by Kundra and his wife Shilpa Shetty and that they are running from pillar to post to recover their money. The game was acquired by another company in July.

Hiren Parmar from Ahmedabad told mid-day that he was persuaded by local representatives of Viaan Industries to invest in the online game around three years ago. “I was approached by two men who promised to make me a super stockist of the GOD in Ahmedabad. I was told I would get a profit of 5 per cent in the business, so I invested Rs 9.7 lakh,” Parmar said.

“But I smelt a rat and planned to pull out my investment. When I contacted the representatives of Viaan Industries, they told me that the dots [which customers buy to play the game] would be given to a new super stockist in Ahmedabad and then my money would be returned. But, nothing has happened till date,” Parmar said.

“I have learnt that it’s a scam of Rs 3,000 crore by Game Of Dot,” Parmar claimed. GOD is an online cricket game in which a player has to ‘spot the ball’ carefully on the computer. People had to buy ‘dots’ to play the game. While one dot costs Rs 20, the game claimed it could fetch up to Rs 9,999. After his repeated efforts to get back the money failed, Parmar approached the cyber cell of Gujarat police. “I submitted my complaint on January 30, 2020 but the local police closed my complaint saying that it is a matter of give and take of money.”

Parmar also wrote to the Mumbai police on July 23 this year and requested to thoroughly investigate the game of Viaan Industries. “The senior inspector of Cyber cell of Mumbai police S S Sahasrabuddhe was prompt to revert my mail the same evening saying: ‘We have received your complaint regarding Cyber crime from Viaan Industries Ltd (Game Of Dot). In this connection, you are further advised to approach your local Police station with all relevant information to register your complaint. Hence the complaint has been closed our end and kept on record for future reference’.”

“Now where should we go? The local police have closed our complaint. We were hoping that the Mumbai police would help us but they too have closed our complaint.”

“There are hundreds of traders like me who have been running from here to there to register the complaint. I have lost my Rs. 3 lakh in this business deal but the others have lost huge. We have been duped by Viaan Industries and the police must help us,” Parmar said.

Another super stockist from Ahmedabad, Maulik Shah, said he was duped over GOD. “I was made a super stockist of Ahmedabad after Parmar decided to shut the business deal with Viaan Industries. I have been duped of Rs 8 lakh in this deal with Viaan Industries.”

Shah said, “The representatives of Viaan Industries had promised me that actor Shilpa Shetty and other celebrities would visit Ahmedabad to promote the game but none visited.” “I have written to the cyber cell of Ahmedabad police regarding the fraud but I am yet to get a revert from them,” Shah told mid-day.

The game was recently acquired by Tendril Gaming Private Ltd. Shah said he approached the new company with his problem. “I was told by the Viaan Industries new CFO that the issues will be resolved by Tendril Gaming but when I contacted them [Tendril], they said I must invest more in the business then only my stuck amount will be withdrawn. I feel helpless as I don’t want to do business with GOD at all. I need my money back,” Shah said.

Udaipur-based Lokesh Harkawat said he was made a super stockist for GOD in Rajasthan. “I invested only Rs 1 lakh. I am now unable to access the dots which I had purchased as the login id and password are not being accepted by the application,” Harkawat said.

“I also wrote to Mumbai police in July to look into the matter as many traders like me have been duped in lakhs but the police replied to me saying I must approach the local cops. But I chose not to approach the local police here in Udaipur as nothing happens if an online complaint is filed,” he said.

Goa-based business partners Vikram Jadhav and Pritesh Desai had bought dots worth Rs 9 lakh. They could use dots worth Rs 1 lakh only. “The online access to the GOD is denied. The portal is locked. We decided to visit its office but the lockdown was imposed.”

Seema Sharma, the business development manager from Tendril Gaming Private Limited, termed the allegations legal issues, which are “not handled by me at all”.

“We have a contract with Viaan Industries according to which we don’t have any obligation towards anyone who was associated with Viaan at that point of time and we have this in writing,” said Sharma, refusing to talk further.

Calls and messages sent to Viaan’s chief financial officer Satyajit Kolay went unanswered.

A player has to buy each ‘dot’ for Rs 20 to win a cash prize of Rs 9,999. The player wins money if his/her prediction of the ball matches with that of the “experts”. However, Parmar said, “Viaan Industries had used the photo of Shilpa Shetty to attract players. In many cases, the players were also not given the cash prize. This was something very alarming to pull off my idea to continue my business with Viaan Industries.”