2 held for duping business partner
New Delhi: Two sibling entrepreneurs who founded a health care app were arrested for allegedly duping their business partner of around Rs 16 crore, police said on Friday.
The accused have been identified as Cherian (35), a resident of Delhi, and his sister Meenakshi Singh (36) of Bengaluru, they said.
They were arrested from Dindigul, Tamil Nadu, Special Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravinder Singh Yadav said.
The siblings, along with friend and partner Dr Gandharv Goyal, started a health care app structured on artificial intelligence (AI), a senior police officer said.
However, when investments started to pour in, the duo ousted Goyal using forged documents, the officer said.
A case has been registered following a complaint by Goyal, the police said.
Goyal and Cherian were promoters in Synapsica Technologies Pvt Ltd where they also served as directors. Singh joined the company with a view to developing software capable of reporting CT Scan, X-Ray and MRI without a radiologist. She also became a director and shareholder, the officer said.
In December 2019, the company was selected in Y-Combinator (the world's biggest technology start-up accelerator) and raised about Rs 5 crore from investors, the officer added.
The trio also incorporated a company — Synapsica Healthcare Inc — in the United States to expand the business there. A subsidiary, Synapsica Healthcare Pvt Ltd, was incorporated in India, the police said.
Investigations revealed that the duo hatched a criminal conspiracy and floated a company in the US to attract more investors in Synapsica Healthcare Pvt Ltd and re-purchased Goyal's share in the US-incorporated parent company by allegedly forging his signature, the officer said.
Later, they issued these shares to new investors in the US and India for Rs 16 crore, the police said.
All the share agreements and term sheets have been seized.
Cherian completed his MBBS from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, while Singh holds an MBA degree from IIM.