The CB-CID police on Thursday arrested an AINRC functionary, one of the prime accused in the ATM fraud case, which was busted by the police in April this year. A CB-CID team nabbed the accused Salliazhagan alias Sathiya, 36, Point Care Street, Mudaliarpet from Gorimedu.
Addressing a press conference, Rahul Alwal, Senior Superintendent of Police (Karaikal), said that Sathya had supplied five point of sale (PoS) machines to Chandruji, an AIADMK functionary and the main accused who is at large through Sivakumar for a commission of ₹3.25 lakh. Sathya, on learning about the arrests made by the CB-CID police in the case, destroyed the PoS machines and threw them into the Chunnambar river near the boathouse. The police team tried to retrieve the machines but couldn't find them.
Mr. Alwal said the police had recovered ₹1 lakh cash, bank passbooks, cheque books and bank statements from Sathya. During investigation, it was found that he had multiple transactions. The last transaction was done in March and ₹1 lakh had been withdrawn. The accused reportedly confessed to his role in the racket. Sathya had multiple accounts in State Bank of India, State Bank of Travancore, Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank.
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Marriage cancelled
The police said Sathya recently got engaged and was about to get married. After the racket was busted, he remained at large. The accused travelled by a two-wheeler to the Appa Paithiyaswamy Temple in Salem and then moved between Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Sathya’s marriage got cancelled. He was constantly in touch with his sister and brother-in-law and the CB-CID team nabbed him after tracing his location.
Mr. Alwal said that the CB-CID team had arrested 10 persons for their involvement in the racket so far and investigation was on about the role of others. The police said they would soon arrest Chandruji, the main accused in the case.
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Only after the arrest of Chandruji, would the police be able to establish the ramifications of the racket within India and outside the country. Information retrieved from deleted passwords had revealed that many of the victims were from Ireland, Belgium, The Netherlands and Denmark and the amount duped from them could be to the tune of a few crores of rupees till now. The modus operandi adopted by the accused was unique and they were technically savvy and well versed in this fraud, he added.