Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Man held on cheating charge

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The city police have arrested a 35-year-old alleged confidential trickster on the charge of defrauding businessmen, including a prominent builder, of crores of rupees by promising them quick loans from nationalised banks.

The accused, Biju Radhakrishnan, 35, is a former employee of the Kerala Housing Finance Corporation. The police also arrested his wife, Saritha. S. Nair, in connection with the multi-crore fraud.

Investigators said Biju defrauded his victims by posing as a consultant of the Asian Development Bank. He claimed to have influence among bankers, civil servants and ruling front politicians.

The case came to light when a prominent builder in the city complained to City Police Commissioner M.R. Ajith Kumar that the suspect had cheated him of Rs.42 lakh by promising to secure him a loan of Rs.25 crore from a nationalised bank. The builder told Mr. Ajith that Biju had claimed to be his close relative. The Commissioner constituted a special investigation team headed by Assistant Commissioner S. Anil Kumar to inquire into the matter. Sensing trouble, Biju absconded. He was arrested on Friday night.

Investigators said the Crime Branch was investigating Biju in connection with the death of his first wife, Reshmi, in 2005. They learnt that he had run several offices, under different names, in Kerala and Tamil Nadu offering his services as a “loan facilitator”.

Mr. Anil said the method of operation of the accused was to forge documents of nationalised banks and use them as genuine ones to defraud his victims. He said Biju had defrauded two businessmen of Rs.37 lakh in 2005 by promising to sell them imported iron scrap. He had forged shipping records and Customs documents

The Tamil Nadu police are investigating Biju and Saritha on the charge of defrauding three businessmen of several lakhs of rupees by promising them technical assistance and material for setting up wind turbines in Coimbatore.

He was produced before the court on the charges of forgery, cheating, impersonation and conspiracy and remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.

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