CHENNAI: Three persons were arrested for allegedly cheating a gold loan agent of Rs 16 lakh in Chennai by luring him with a fake gold redemption deal.
The suspect allegedly convinced Vijayakumar (43), an agent of a private gold pawn brokerage firm, to transfer Rs 40.06 lakh to redeem jewels pledged at a private bank in T Nagar. They allegedly assured him that the jewels would later be pledged at the firm’s Medavakkam branch.
The police said Vijayakumar transferred the amount to the bank account of the prime accused, Radhakrishnan, at a private bank in T Nagar on May 18. Soon after receiving the money, Radhakrishnan allegedly switched off his mobile phone and fled.
Following an alert from Vijayakumar, the bank officials managed to freeze Rs 24.06 lakh. However, the police said the suspect had already diverted Rs 16 lakh to another bank account in Tirunelveli district using a pre-arranged cheque.
Based on a complaint lodged at the Mambalam police station, a case was registered and Radhakrishnan (41) was arrested from Tirunelveli district, Hasan Ali (57) from Broadway, and Deepak (35) from Tirunelveli district.
The police said efforts are under way to trace other suspects involved in the fraud and recover the remaining money. The trio was remanded in judicial custody on Wednesday.