Man who set up Namma Unavagam restaurant arrested in Chennai

CHENNAI: Central crime branch sleuths on Tuesday arrested the man who set up the Namma Unavagam restaurant in Chennai for allegedly cheating investors by promising them huge profits. 

The businessman, Mohammad Kasim, is alleged to have collected money from several people by convincing them that if they invested in his start-up they would only have to set up a food stall at which food would be provided from a centralized kitchen and of 40 per cent of any income would go to the investors.

Officers said Kasim collected money from people to start franchises of the restaurant across the city. He reportedly told them that any money spent on setting up the stall would be repaid. 

The launch of Namma Unavagam, less than a year ago, was preceded by a high profile ad campaign. The restaurant had the tag-line of “Parambiya suvayin akshayapatratam”. Advertisements said food would be given to the franchisees’ stalls. At the end of the day, any food remaining would be taken back and a refund would be given.

“Initially we received a profit of Rs 40 for every Rs 100 of food sold. He had set up his major kitchen in Vadapalani and from there he distributed food. For the first four months everything went well and I convinced some of my friends also to invest,” one of the investors, Murugan, told Express when he came to file a complaint at the Chennai city police commissioner office three months ago.

“As the investors incurred huge losses, they approached Kasim to give compensation. Initially Kasim promised to support them, but he didn’t provide them any money,” said a police officer.

Following this, the investors approached the city police commissioner and lodged a police complaint three months ago. The petition was forwarded to the police team to probe further. The police personnel inquired and reportedly found that Kasim had cheated investors with false claims. They questioned Kasim and he was arrested on Tuesday.

Police said their preliminary inquiries revealed that Kasim had collected more than Rs 7.5 crore from the investors and he allowed them to start at least 70 franchisees in city. As money poured in, the ambitious Kasim advertised the business in a big way. He gave hope to all his investors that soon he would be able to ensure they got 70 percent of their profits as income.