Trio with slain forest brigand 'Veerappan's pot' cheats businessman of Rs 8.5 lakh

COIMBATORE: Three men who claimed to possess a pot used by the slain forest brigand Veerappan have cheated a businessman of 8.5 lakh near Anupoorpalayam in Tirupur.
"The trio claimed that they had with them Veerappan's cooking pot which was later used by his family members and they had decided to sell it to a foreign company for a huge amount in 2012. The men sought 1 lakh as loan to complete certain procedures before the sale," said one of the complainants, E Rajprathap, 39, a resident of Anupoorpalayam. "Though I ignored their request, a friend persuaded me to lend the amount. Since I had high regard for the forest brigand, I gave them the amount. They borrowed a total of 8.5 lakhs in four instalments, said Rajprathap.

"Whenever I ask them to return the amount, they came out with vague reasons. Once they produced a certificate which was purportedly signed by the then RBI governor Raghuram Rajan and the then Union finance minister Arun Jaitley and said they were on the verge of sealing the deal. I believed them," he added.
Rajprathap said the accused told him a month ago that the documents were on prime minister Narendra Modi's table.
"It is only after the Coimbatore police arrested one of the accused I realised that I was being cheated. I came to know that they had cheated close to 20 people using the same modus operandi," he explained.
Rajprathap recently petitioned the office of police commissioner of Tirupur, who forwarded it to the Anupoorpalayam police station.