Former Rasipuram municipal chairman arrested for cheating public

COIMBATORE: The crime branch of the Namakkal district police arrested a former Rasipuram municipal chairman -- who is an AIADMK functionary -- on charges of cheating the public to the tune of Rs 11.50 lakh by promising to give them house sites.

The arrested man has been identified as M Balasubramanian, 56. He is AIADMK’s Rasipuram urban secretary.

Police said Balasubramanian was a real estate promoter in 2009. He sold around 2,500 plots in and around Rasipuram. He announced that people who wanted to buy sites for constructing houses could pay him in instalments over a period of 50 months. Once people paid the full amount of Rs 1.15 lakh, he would register a site in their names immediately. He sold more than 2,000 sites to people. However, he allegedly failed to register plots in the name of some people who invested their money with him.

Around 11 people lodged a complaint with the DCB police two weeks ago, alleging that Balasubramanian had failed to register the sites in their names and cheated them by receiving the amounts through monthly instalments. They demanded action against him.

After a detailed inquiry, the police registered an FIR against Balasubramanian and arrested him on Thursday evening.

He was remanded in judicial custody on Friday.