The Ramanathapuram Bazaar police have arrested two persons including a school teacher and his accomplice, a film producer, on charges of cheating about 55 investors of ₹3 crore.
Speaking to reporters, Superintendent of Police, V. Varun Kumar said on Wednesday that following a complaint from G. Thulasi Manikandan (36) of TNHB Colony, here, the police had registered a case under IPC Sections 406, 420, 294B and 506 (2) against three persons -- Anand (a school teacher from Ramanathapuram district) his friend Neethimani and his wife Menaka Neethimani of Chennai.
The complaint was that when Manikandan was working in a private insurance firm, he knew Anand. After Manikandan quit his job and was searching for another one, Anand, suggested that he invest in a finance company run by his friends in Chennai. The school teacher had claimed that he also had a stake in the finance company. After telling him about the investment opportunities and high returns, Manikandan was convinced. Manikandan made his father-in-law invest ₹5 lakh in the finance company in June 2018.
As he was getting high returns, Manikandan made his friends and contacts in the town also invest in the finance company. About 55 people including some doctors from Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga had invested in the finance firm. As an acknowledgment, the firm had issued receipts and for some people, issued post-dated cheques.
However, from October 2019 when the returns were not regular, some of the investors started pestering Manikandan to get the money back. He, in turn, approached Anand to settle the accounts as he claimed to have sold his properties and settled a few of them, Manikandan had stated in the complaint.
On Tuesday, when Neethimani arrived here to hold talks, a verbal altercation between them led to Manikandan filing a complaint with the police seeking protection and also action against them.
On inquiry, the police arrested Anand and his accomplice Neethimani under charges of cheating and breach of trust among other criminal offences. They were produced for judicial custody. A search was on to secure Menaka, an accused in the case, police added.
Meanwhile, a senior officer said that Neethimani had close links with film production units and some producers in Chennai. He had partly financed a couple of low-budget Tamil movies.
The modus operandi of Neethimani was to make investors like Manikandan talk about the integrity of their firm and take money from gullible investors. After giving high returns for a few months, they would slowly disassociate from the investors. Many in Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem, Sivaganga, Chennai and their relatives in Singapore, Malaysia and Cambodia had invested, the probe has revealed. The prime accused had a fair knowledge about hawala operations too, the officer added.
