Interior designer couple jailed for cheating three

HYDERABAD: A couple who operate an interior design firm on Banjara Hills Road no 1, was convicted by the Nampally criminal court on Friday for cheating three victims, including a firm. The court directed them to undergo imprisonment for two years for failing to complete the agreed projects after collecting the money from the victims.
The 12th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Roja Ramani directed Rafal Interiors Private Limited managing director Rafal Kennedy Joseph and his wife Aruna Joseph, to pay a fine of Rs 10,000 each in addition to the imprisonment sentence.
In 2016, R & A Associates, a Company Secretaries firm in Begumpet, lodged a complaint in Cyber Crime wing of Hyderabad Central Crime Station (CCS) sleuths claiming that in 2015 they approached Rafal Interiors to get their Begumpet office furnished. They alleged that they had paid Rs 5.30 lakhs to the couple by transferring the money into their account in different instalments, after entering into an agreement.
After making few visits to the office, the accused started to avoid the complainants.
They also began to delaying the project for more than three months citing different reasons.
Apart from R&A Associates, two other victims also lost Rs 3 lakh each. They had paid the amount to the duo as part of a deal to get the interiors done in their premises by Rafal Interiors.
In November 2016, the CCS officials arrested Kennedy Joseph and named his wife as an accused. Kennedy Joseph was later released on bail.
The case went on for six months till the verdict was given on Friday.