Bengaluru woman’s paisa double offer to swindle crores at kitty parties

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, July 11, 2025: She used to host kitty parties and befriend wealthy women by claiming she had close connections with several politicians. She would then lure her new friends into fraudulent investment plans like buying gold in the UAE at lower rates under the guise of lucrative returns, sometimes even four times the investment. She has now been arrested for cheating over 20 of her friends to the tunes of crores. She has been identified as Savitha, a 49-year-old resident of Bengaluru, who was previously arrested in a similar case and was out on bail.

Savitha and six of her accomplices have been arrested after a complaint from Kusuma, one of the victims of the kitty party fraud.

Kusuma, a homemaker and widow, lives with her parents and son in Bengaluru city and has known Savitha for the past 30 years, according to the First Information Report (FIR). Since 2020, there has been a business of exchanging money between the two women.

In 2023, Savitha reportedly called Kusuma and informed her of low gold prices in Dubai, where her husband was working. Savitha made a lucrative offer - invest in gold for two years and get four times more money. Kusuma was convinced and invested Rs 24 lakh, the money she and her late husband had saved over the years.

Kusuma’s life savings were transferred to Savitha in parts - Rs 2.25 lakh were given to her brother, Rs 19.85 lakh were handed in cash to the accused’s mother and the remaining Rs  1.9 lakh were sent to Savita’s daughter Valmika, via Phone Pay. 

After each transfer, I called Savita and informed her about the transfer, Kusuma, a former teacher, said, as per the FIR.

"On January 6, 2024, Savitha called me and said she had invested in the Udaya TV project and gave me double the money I had invested. She then again asked me to invest another Rs 10 lakh and once again made the promise of assured returns. I trusted and gave Rs 10 lakh in cash," the FIR read.

Over the next few months, Kusuma gave lakhs to Savitha, sometimes to invest and sometimes to simply help the accused with her daughter’s marriage or clear a car loan.

Months later, in June 2025, when Kusuma went to Savitha’s house asking for her money - a sum of Rs 95 lakh - she was asked to go back.

Savitha allegedly said that she has borrowed money from a lot of people and won’t return it to any of them.

In her FIR dated July 8, Kusuma has named seven people, including Savitha, Punith, Sathish, Valmika, Darshan, Lokesh and Shridhar.

Savita has been arrested by the Basaveshwaranagar police for allegedly defrauding more than 20 women in a multi-crore scam. She chose morning walks to identify and befriend rich and wealthy women and later invite them for kitty parties and other gatherings where she made proposals for investment opportunities in India and abroad.

The accused would drop names like the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister, and Karnataka Minister MB Patil to gain the trust of her victims, and gradually collect money from them in the name of investment.

Savita had previously been arrested in a similar case registered at Govindarajanagar police station and was out on bail. Despite this, she continued her fraudulent activities and is now once again in police custody.

This case bears a striking resemblance to the Aishwarya Gowda cheating case from Bengaluru, which is currently under investigation by the police and the Enforcement Directorate. Aishwarya Gowda has been accused of duping several individuals by falsely claiming close ties to influential politicians, including DK Suresh, the brother of Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, among others.

Cops probing such cheating cases often encounter a major hurdle, as the accused often can easily secure court-ordered stays on investigations or proceedings. Vacating these stays is often time-consuming and a costly process, both for the police and the complainants who would have already lost a lot of money. 

In the Aishwarya Gowda case, a stay order from the court is currently in place. Similarly, in Savita’s case, an earlier FIR filed at Govindarajnagar Police Station has also been stayed, further delaying justice and complicating ongoing investigations.