CHENNAI: Three people, including a couple, have been arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) allegedly for cheating about 3,000 investors of Rs 40 crore on Sunday. They were remanded in judicial custody.
The company Amro Kings Ltd was incorporated in 2019 with its office in Kodambakkam. The accused are Chairman and Managing director B Rajarajan, and Directors R Muthulakshmi and P Ranjith Kumar. Rajarajan and Muthulakshmi are a couple, said police, adding that Ranjith is related to Rajarajan. The trio sought investments through other companies created as subsidiaries to Amro Kings and claimed to be investing in manufacturing beverages.
They promised a monthly profit of 10% and return the principal amount by the end of 22 months. In 2019, they collected Rs 3.26 crore from 71 investors and were supposed to give returns by 2021, but failed to provide either the principal amount or the profits. The EOW registered a cased based on a complaint from one of the investors Santha Kumar.
The accused were booked under several sections of IPC, The Tamil Nadu Protection of Interest of Depositors (TNPID) Act, and Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes (BUDS) Act. They were produced before a special judge and remanded in judicial custody.
Police searched five places belonging to the accused in Chennai and Kancheepuram. They recovered Rs 10,000 cash, 49 gram gold coins, 450 gram of silver, a car, a two-wheeler, 14 gadgets and other incriminating documents. As per their confession, the accused collected investments of Rs 161 crore from 3,000 investors.
They paid back Rs 121 crore of the investors’ money, excluding returns, and also failed to return the pending Rs 40 crore. Police said, efforts are on to freeze their bank accounts and that any victim of the scam must approach the EOW office in Ashok Nagar.