‘Vasupal confessed, in jail for defrauding an ad agency’

City crime branch says thorough investigation done; family members of CEO deny claims

The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Chennai City Police on Wednesday said during its investigation that Stayzilla CEO and co-founder Yogendra Vasupal had confessed to have committed a fraud on an advertising company based in Chennai. However, his family members have denied it.

Following a complaint lodged by an advertising company over unpaid dues, CCB officers arrested Yogendra Vasupal on Tuesday and produced him before a special court at Allikulam campus. The court remanded him to judicial custody until the 28th of this month. He has been lodged at Central Prison, Puzhal.

Originally, the police made the arrest based on a complaint from C.S. Aditya of Jigzaw Solutions. He preferred the complaint against Stayzilla, operated by Inasra Technologies Private Limited, a hotel booking portal which allowed users to search and book hotels across Indian cities with a specific focus on tier-2 and tier-3 cities in the country. The company’s co-founders — Yogendra Vasupal and Sarjit Singhi — were cited as the accused by the complainant. The complainant said Stayzilla approached his company to promote its business through advertisements.

The advertising company claimed it executed its works, and Stayzilla had failed to make payments since February 2016.

When the complainant approached Stayzilla’s co-founders for payment, he was intimidated by them, according to the complainant.

The complainant accused them of defrauding him of ₹1.72 crore. Taking up the complaint on its file, the CCB booked a case against Yogendra Vasupal and Sarjit Singhi for offences under Sections — 406 (Punishment for criminal breach of trust), 420 (Cheating), 506 (i) (Criminal Intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

A senior police officer of CCB told The Hindu , “We have made a thorough investigation after receipt of the complaint. Our preliminary investigation revealed a prima facie case of cheating. During our interrogation, the prime accused Vasupal confessed to have committed offence as alleged by the complainant. We are looking for other accused in the case.”