Coimbatore: The district crime branch (DCB) police on Tuesday arrested a 38-year-old man for cheating a businessman of Rs 1.4 crore at Gomangalam in Coimbatore district.
Police conducted inquiry with four more people in connection with the case.
K Premanand, 51, owns coconut drying yard at Gomangalam. Some famers used to regularly send their coconut to his yard for drying.
After the drying process, they used to sell the copras (dried coconut kernels) to various companies. Premanand also sold copras to agents, who would in turn send them to Hyderabad-based companies.
In February 2018, agent Sivakumar introduced another agent named Narayanasamy of Chettipudur near Negamam to Premanand.
“I handed over 12 loads of copras (each load contained 16 tonnes) worth Rs 3.68 crore to Narayanasamy, Sivakumar and his relatives Radhakrishnan, Venugopal and Sakthi Vadivel. The agents had sent the loads to Hyderabad-based companies. Apart from their commission, the agents have to pay me Rs 1.4 crore. But they failed to pay the amount,” Premanand said.
He said the agents were close relatives and they received crores of rupees from the companies in Hyderabad.
“With a few available documents as evidence, I lodged a complaint against the agents with the DCB,” Premanand said.
DCB police inspector A Chandrakantha registered a case against Narayanasamy under sections 420 and 406 (criminal preach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code. He was arrested and produced before the judicial magistrate court in Tirupur and later lodged at the Coimbatore central prison. Police have also picked up four more agents in connection with the case. Further investigation is on.
