KALLAKURCHI: Four people have been arrested for defrauding two private banks of Rs 24.33 crore. The matter had come to light following a case filed by a senior supervisor of a private godown management company at Chinnasalem police station in 2019.
Sources at the Kallakurichi district superintendent of police office said the case was later transferred to the district crime branch by SP N Mohanraj. An investigation by the DCB found that T Periyasamy (55) of Chinnasalem, his son P Balusamy (24), and M Krishnan (36) of Thagarai and R Ramesh (34) of Therunakuppam, both employees of the same private company, were involved in the fraud.
According to the source, Periyasamy, an oil mill owner, and his son had rented 36 godowns to stock groundnut across Kallakurichi, and mortgaged them to obtain loans worth Rs 24.33 crore from the two banks from 2017 to 2019. The loans were taken in the names of 48 individuals, including Periyasamy, his wife Thangam, father Thangavel, daughter Saranya, Balusamy, relatives and workers. The accused also received help from Krishnan and Ramesh, who shifted the groundnuts from one godown to another to ease the verification process. They met Periyasamy while handling his documents for rentals and struck a deal with him.
The police source added that the accused even showed two gates to the same godown to obtain the loans. A complaint was lodged in 2019, following which a delay was caused due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The case was transferred to the DCB only a few weeks back after the superintendent of police ordered to do away with long-pending cases. The four were arrested and following questioning, they were remanded in judicial custody. The DCB is further investigating the case to determine any other accomplices.