A finance director who stole £2.4million from two companies that held the royalties to Deep Purple's greatest hits has been jailed for six years.
Dipak Rao, 71, of Worcester Park, Surrey, transferred large sums of money from Deep Purple Overseas Ltd and HEC Enterprises into his personal account while he was in charge of the two firms.
He claimed they were loans he planned to pay back later, but he was rumbled when the owners of both companies died and their stakes were passed to their children.
It was only when the new owners hired an accountant to look over the books that he was caught, Guildford Crown Court heard.
The pensioner even made a bogus fraud claim to Action Fraud and accused 'boiler room' fraudsters of stealing the £2.4million he took.
He was last week jailed for six years and four months after pleading guilty to fraud by abuse of position and of laundering the proceeds of the fraud.
Alongside Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, Deep Purple are often referred to as part of the 'unholy trinity' of British hard rock. Their back catalogue, built over a 50-year career, includes songs such as Smoke On The Water and Soldiers Of Fortune.
For 20 years Rao ran the companies on behalf of shareholders but began transferring company funds into his personal bank account seven years ago.
A police investigation found Rao had tried to hide most of the transactions and failed to record them in his companies' records. Both firms have now been dissolved.
Detective Constable Rebecca Mason, from Surrey Police's Economic Crime Unit, said: 'This is a case of out-and-out dishonesty and someone blatantly abusing the trust placed in them. Just because someone wears a suit and hides their crimes behind the facade of an official sounding job, it doesn't make them any less of a criminal.
'(Dipak Rao) abused his position and hid his crime for over seven years. As a result of Rao's actions both companies now no longer exist and the victims are left dealing with the financial consequences – and the consequences to their families' reputations – of what he did.
'The directors of these two businesses have suffered a huge amount of emotional distress throughout all of this, and I hope that today's sentencing will give them some closure.'
To celebrate the victory, Surrey Police recorded a music video on the steps of Guildford Crown Court with local singer-songwriter Leoni Jane Kennedy. Representatives of Deep Purple have been contacted for comment.
