The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court was informed by the State that the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) would probe the financial fraud case involving ‘Helicopter Brothers’ M. R. Ganesh and M. R. Swaminathan of Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district.
Justice B. Pugalendhi was told by the State that there were more than 41 complaints against the main accused and more than ₹500 crore foreign investment were made, particularly in Malaysia. The entire volume of the fraud had to be unearthed.
The court was hearing the bail petition filed by Akilandam, wife of M. R. Ganesh and another bail petition filed by a priest S. Venkatesan. Both the petitioners said that they were innocent and had played no role in the financial fraud committed by the brothers.
The court granted bail to the priest after taking note of the fact that he was only involved in canvassing for investments to the company owned by the two brothers. However, the court refused to grant bail to Akilandam after it was said that she was a Director in the company.
The ‘Helicopter Brothers’ are accused of cheating the residents of Kumbakonam of several crores of rupees. They had claimed that they were into diversified businesses, that included helicopter service, dairy farms, gold investments and financial companies.
They were arrested based on the complaint lodged by the investors. The accused are remanded in judicial custody. Earlier, the court sought to know the total extent of the financial fraud committed by the brothers.
