Gang defrauds Chennai businessman of ₹7.32 crore on the pretext of arranging ₹2,000 crore investment from Russia 

The nine-member gang includes a tahsildar, a retired village administrative officer and an advocate

The Central Crime Branch of Greater Chennai Police has arrested a gang of nine persons, including a tahsildar, a retired village administrative officer and an advocate, for allegedly cheating of a city-based businessman to the tune of ₹7.32 crore under the guise of getting investment upto ₹2,000 crore from Russian government.

The businessman, who has an office in T.Nagar, lodged a complaint with the City Police Commissioner last month. He alleged that in July, Arunraj, who runs a company named Indo-Russian Business Associates in Alwarpet, claimed that he was a delegate of Indo-Russian Chambers of Commerce and Industries Limited.

Arunraj and his associates claimed the Russian government had proposed to invest in India and assured the businessman that he would get upto ₹2,000 crore for his solar project in Tiruchi. Believing in their words, the businessman transferred ₹7.32 crore between March 18 to October 15 to the bank accounts mentioned by the gang members for sanctioning and facilitating the project.

Later, the businessman came to know that Arunraj joined with others and cheated him. The accused had deceived the complainant by furnishing fabricated Russian government logos, flags and their website containing data and made false claims that the Russian government was investing through them.

Based on the complaint, the Central Crime Branch arrested the main suspect C. Arunraj, 38, of Injambakkam and his associates M. Kumaran, 43, of Thanjavur district and S. Nagendran, 39, of Cholavaram and six others.

During a search conducted by the police, 476 sovereigns of gold jewellery, silver items weighing 400 kg, ₹14.50 lakh in cash, 11 luxurious cars were seized from them.

City Police Commissioner A.Arun cautioned the public to be careful about such fraudulent investment and not to get deceived by such bogus forums. Further, if any person cheated by Arunraj and his associates may approach and register a complaint.

Published - November 19, 2024 10:12 pm IST