Three members of Coimbatore family arrested for cheating businessman of Rs 2.5 crore

COIMBATORE: A 27-year-old man, his mother and sister were arrested by the Coimbatore district crime branch police on Friday for defrauding a real estate businessman of Rs 2.5 crore.The arrested have been identified as M Deepak, 27, of Pattanam near Sulur, his mother, Baby Shalini, 44, and his sister, M Reshma, 24. Deepak's father, Muthu, was known to the victim, S Ravi, 56, of Kancheepuram who was into a real estate business.In 2022, Deepak's father died due to health reasons. After his father’s death, Deepak met Ravi and informed him that his father had received Rs 300 crore from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and that he needed money to pay the tax, which was mandatory to withdraw Rs 300 crore from the RBI.Deepak promised that he would give him 30% of the Rs 300 crore as commission if he helped him pay the tax. He showed him fake documents from the RBI mentioning that Rs 300 crore had been sanctioned in his father's name. Believing this, Ravi transferred a total of Rs 2.5 crore in several instalments to the bank accounts of Deepak, Baby Shalini and Reshma between 2022 and 2024.However, Deepak did not give the money back to Ravi. When Ravi asked him, Deepak told him that the work was under progress.

He said he had given Rs 67 lakh to a Union minister, Rs 50 lakh to a governor and Rs 27 lakh to the RBI governor. When Ravi asked his money again, Deepak replied that the authorities had done RTGS (real time gross settlement) and the money would be credited soon. Similarly, he gave various reasons to cheat Ravi. Deepak allegedly threatened Ravi with dire consequences and said that he had contacts with police higher officials and politicians and refused to return the money.Ravi lodged a complaint with the crime branch police on Thursday. The police registered a case and arrested the trio on Friday morning. The three were remanded in judicial custody.