Chennai: Four more held in loan fraud case; 60 accounts frozen

CHENNAI: The

bank fraud

wing on Saturday arrested four more suspects who were part of the gang that floated fake BPO firms and cheated many of huge sums of money, promising them loans at low interest. The prime suspect, Gopi Krishna, is believed to be holed up in Sri Lanka. So far, 11 suspects have been and about 60 bank accounts in the city and other places frozen.


Those arrested on Saturday — Vijay Krishnan, 55, his wife V Meenakshi, 52, their daughter V Nalini, 33, and 43-year-old Mohanakrishnan — are either partners or directors of the fake BPO firms floated by the gang. Police seized 2-3 PAN cards from the suspects who used fictitious names to obtain them and start bank accounts . They also seized 10 sovereigns of gold jewellery and some documents.

The racket was busted on February 14, but money continued to flow to Gopi Krishna, police said, adding they would further question Satish and Umapathi, held earlier.

Police had seized 13 luxury cars, including a BMW, an Audi, a Benz and a Honda, from some of the suspects. Inquiries revealed they had a table permanently reserved for them at a casino in

Colombo

, Sri Lanka and gambled away the ill-gotten wealth. Gopi Krishna was a member of the casino where one had to shell out Rs 1 crore to book a table, a police officer said.

The gang members, who frequented casions in

Thailand

, Dubai and

Hong Kong

, may have swindled more than Rs 100 crore from more than 2,000 people across TN. The city police have so far received 850 complaints against the fraudsters.