BENGALURU: Three conmen from
Tamil Nadu, who allegedly cheated Sandalwood director-producer-actor S Narayan to the tune of Rs 43 lakh by promising to arrange a Rs 70 crore loan in 2017, were arrested last week.
Ramesh alias Swamiji from Mettupalayam and his associates Vijay Kumar and Santhana Krish, residents of Sivaganga, were evading arrests since Narayan filed a complaint in December last. Yeshwantpur police personnel nabbed the trio after approaching them in the guise of businessmen seeking a loan of Rs 50 crore.
According to police, two more suspects are at large and efforts are on to nab them. Police sources said the accused had evaded detection by switching off their mobiles.
However, cops continued to keep a watch and recently noticed that one of the mobile numbers, belonging to Vijay Kumar, had become active. One of the police officers contacted Kumar over phone posing as a businessman from Mysuru. The officer told Kumar that he wanted to establish a dairy in Hyderabad and wanted Rs 50 crore as loan.
Last week, Kumar was picked up from
Malleswaram where he’d asked the officer to meet him. Based on information given by him, police arrested Ramesh and Krishna.
Narayan told media that he wanted money for several projects and approached a bank in Rajajinagar where he met Kumar in May 2017.
Kumar told Narayan that getting a bank loan would take time and assured him that he would arrange a loan from private persons if the director was ready to pay 1% as commission to him.
“I agreed to give the commission. Later, he introduced me to Swamiji in Mettupalayam and I was taken to
Tirunelveli where a person who introduced himself as Mandara Murthy verified my property documents and agreed to give Rs 70 crore as loan. They told me that they will soon prepare a demand draft and send it to me. Kumar contacted me after a few days and asked for his commission. I deposited Rs 43 lakh to his account but later his mobile was switched off,” Narayan added.
Representative image
