Man held for duping cop's wife with promise of prof job

CHENNAI: City police on Thursday arrested a 39-year-old man for allegedly cheating 11 people, including a traffic head constable’s wife, to the tune of several lakhs of rupees by promising them lucrative jobs.

The arrested identified as Nagarajan, a native of Nagercoil, lived in Thiruvottiyur along with his wife. He ran a company called ‘Apple Logistics’ on the Second Line Beach Road.

Around four years ago, he made friends with one Sivaselvam, a traffic head constable attached to the North Beach traffic police station. Both hailed from Nagercoil

In 2015, Nagarajan promised to get Sivasankar’s wife Paapa Selvam, who completed her PhD, a professor job in a private college in Tondiarpet. He collected Rs 17 lakh in three instalments from the couple,” police said.

“Initially Pappa Selvam issued a cheque for Rs 10 lakh. Later, he handed over a cheque for Rs 6 lakh and Rs 1 lakh. Failing to get any response about the job even after months, Sivaselvam asked Nagarajan to return the money. The latter returned Rs 1.5 lakh and promised to return the rest later,” the police said.

When he failed to receive the money even after a year, Sivasankar filed a complaint with the city Police Commissioner and filed a petition with the Chief Minister. The case was directed to the New Washermanpet police station. After inquiry, Nagarajan was arrested under section 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of IPC on Wednesday night and remanded in judicial custody. Police said Nagarajan had already 11 cheating cases filed against him in Thiruvottiyur and in Nagercoil. He had duped a retired DIP of the CB-CID to the tune of Rs 40 lakh. In 2011, he had three cheating cases registered against him.