TN couple arrested for cheating 66 investors of Rs 1.85 crore

COIMBATORE: The economic offences wing (EOW) police on Wednesday arrested a couple hailing from the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu for cheating 66 investors of Rs 1.85 crore.


The arrested couple have been identified as S Durairaj, 41, of KK Nagar at Upper Gudalur in the Nilgiris district and his wife D Saradha, 35. They were booked under sections 406, 420 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 5 of the Tamil Nadu Protection of Interests of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) (TNPID) Act.

K Sabarinathan, 35, a farmer in Kuchipalayam near Pandamangalam in Namakkal district, lodged a complaint with the EOW police on August 19. In his complaint, Sabarinathan stated that he saw an advertisement of Spice India Private Limited and Akash Shruthi Spice India Private Limited in a vernacular daily in June 2020. The firms claimed that they would give good returns to the investments.

He contacted the owners of the firms Durairaj and Saradha over the phone. They told that that the firms were taking tea estate and machinery used in the tea estates on lease and sold many food products to the public. If an investor pays Rs 1 lakh, the firms would return Rs 8,000 per month for 24 months and after two years, the 50% of invested amount also would be returned to the investor. Likewise, the firms offered three more schemes.

Sabarinathan invested Rs 5 lakh in the firm and received Rs 2 lakh as an incentive. But the firm stopped paying the amount to the investor later. He was not able to reach the owners of the firms.

Based on his complaint, the police registered a case against the couple.

The preliminary inquiry revealed that the firms, which have branches in Chennai, Bengaluru, Salem, Kerala, Hyderabad, Mysuru, Hosur, Udhagamandalam and Coimbatore, had cheated 66 investors of Rs 1.85 crore.

The police arrested the couple on Wednesday afternoon. They were produced before a special court for TNPID Act cases and remanded in judicial custody.