The Central police on Thursday arrested a person on charges of cheating over ₹100 crore, including the lifetime pension benefits of numerous investors retired from public sector units.
The arrested was identified as Unnikrishnan, 56, of Adoor in Pathanamthitta. He was accused of having duped several investors by setting up a company by the name Kerala Housing Finance Corporation, which was similar to the name of a government-run institution.
Attractive interest
The firm had 29 branches across Kerala and Tamil Nadu with the major attraction being fixed deposits at an attractive interest rate of 14%. Among those who lured into the dubious firm were largely retirees from public sector units.
The accused sold them a seemingly tantalising offer of an assured monthly return akin to salary against the investment of their retirement benefits. Among the victims lured by this offer included those retired from public sector institutions such as Hindustan Newsprint, Cochin Shipyard, Kochi Refineries, etc.
In the initial months he paid the returns as promised thus gaining the trust of the investors who then encouraged their acquaintances also to invest in the firm.
However, all the branches were closed down and the accused went into hiding one-and-a-half years ago.
Following this, a special investigation squad was formed comprising of K. Laljy, Assistant Commissioner, and Central Station House Officer S. Vijayasankar.
Tip-off
The squad received a tip-off with the aid of the cyber cell that the accused was in a rented apartment in Kolani, near Thodupuzha.
He was taken into custody by the police.
According to police, the accused had bought several plots and luxury buses using the money he duped from the investors.
The accused had 17 cases registered against him in Central station, one case each in North and Hill Palace station, 12 cases in Alappuzha, and two each in Cherthala and Thiruvananthapuram.
Central police had already arrested Krishnan Nair, general manager of the company, and Gopalakrishnan, manager of Ernakulam branch. Police are expecting more complaints to emerge with the arrest of the accused.
A team led by sub-inspectors K.X. Thomas and Kiran C. Nair made the arrest.
