The District Crime Branch police arrested a 32-year-old man for cheating 195 persons of ₹14.04 lakh, here on Saturday evening.
Police identified the accused as V. Karthikeyan of Vettavalam Road in Tiruvannamalai Town. Karthikeyan ran a Deepavali chit scheme in 2018 and collected ₹600 each from 195 persons for 12 months through his contacts in local villages.
He had assured the depositors of a two-grams gold coin, 25 grams silver, a box of sweets and a gift hamper with fire crackers. When he failed to keep his promise, the depositors urged him to return their money. After a couple of months, he stopped answering depositors’ phone calls, evading them.
Based on a complaint from one of the depositors, the police conducted a probe and arrested Karthikeyan under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code. He was remanded to custody.
