CHENNAI: Police say it's an old conman's trick called 'doubling' to which two Chennai brothers fell prey, losing a whopping Rs 50 lakh in process. 

The brothers, 25-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim and 24-year-old Mohammed Imam, run a leather business in Periamet in the city. They came in contact with a man identified as ‘Nagore’ Bini. According to police, Bini often met the brothers at their shop and spoke of a lucrative 'deal'. The deal he promised was that if the brothers gave Bini Rs 50 lakh in Rs 2000 notes, they would get back Rs 60 lakh in Rs100 note.

“The brothers needed money to expand their business and they saw Bini's deal as an opportunity. Bini met the brothers in different parts of the city and whenever they met to discuss the deal, a man posing as a police officer would join in and assure the brothers that it was completely safe. He told them if any problem were to crop up, he would take care of it,” said a police officer part of a special team probing the case.

On Monday at around 1.30pm, police said Bini met the brothers near Prestige Villa at Mount Poonamallee High Road at Iyyappanthangal. While the brothers were talking to Bini, two men posing as policemen, in a police vehicle, reached the spot. They took the bag containing Rs 50 lakh from the brothers.

“The three suspects were speaking to the brothers when one of them got into the fake police car, under the pretext of bringing out the bag of Rs 60 lakh, and started the vehicle. While the brothers tried to stop him, Bini and the other man pushed them and ran,” said the police officer.

While the man in the fake police car got away, Bini and the other man were caught by members of the public after the brothers raised alarm. The duo was handed over to the SRMC police. 

Bini was identified as a history-sheeter from Nagapattinam. The other man was identified as Sathish Kumar. The SRMC police arrested the duo and are looking for the third suspect, identified as Rasool Khan. Khan was arrested for a similar crime last year and had come out of prison three months ago.

“The method is called ‘doubling’, an old technique which came up many years ago in Coimbatore, where businessmen were targeted. The gang would convince a businessman to hand over a certain amount of cash. They were promised twice that amount in return.

When the victims gave them the cash, the culprits would give them a bag full of money supposedly in Rs 100 notes. In reality, they would have printed Rs 10,000 of cash in fake notes and fill the other bundles with white paper. As the victims begin to check the bag, a man posing as a cop would reach the spot and the culprits would quickly flee. The fake cop would reach the victims and take the bag of fake money and he too would leave. By the time the victims realised they had been cheated, the gang would be in a different state,” the police officer explained.

Police have formed three special teams to nab Khan. They are also checking to see if the brothers' money was unaccounted cash. Further investigations are on.