The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested the key accused in the estimated 2,000-crore Popular Finance scam that rocked Kerala in August last.
Thomas Daniel, managing director of the firm, and Rinu Mariam, his daughter and chief executive officer, were arrested following their interrogation in the Kochi office of the agency on Monday night.
They were set to be produced before the Special Court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases in Kochi on Tuesday.
The ED will seek the custody of the accused to further investigate the multi-crore scam. It is learnt that the duo had deposited the money collected from various persons in the country and abroad in violation of the provisions under the Money Laundering Act. They were also suspected to have floated shell companies to launder money.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is also probing the scam involving the Konni-based non-banking financial company. The fraud came to light after the depositors filed a cheating complaint against Mr. Daniel for failing to repay the deposits. The company had collected about 2,000 crore from around 1,600 customers within and outside the country.
