CHENNAI: The Central Crime Branch police have arrested a 44-year-old former stock broker for allegedly defrauding the share portfolio of a physicist and professor at a prestigious institution in the city and his aged mother.
The 50-year-old professor, who wished to remain anonymous, is the son of a former professor at the Indian Institute of Techonolgy Madras (IIT-M). He had inherited the shares of his father after the latter’s death a few years ago. In 2011, on the advice of a family friend, he solicited the services of Rajagopalan to convert the shares inherited as well as those owned by his aged mother into a demat account.
Rajagopalan used to work for Shreyas Pvt Ltd., which was later acquired by a well known private company. “In October 2011, Rajagopalan approached us stating that he had moved to another stock broking company and convinced us to transfer the management of the shares to his new employer while retaining him as the manager of our portfolio,” said the professor.
The shares, then worth more than Rs 20 lakh, could be worth Rs 40 lakh now, the professor said.
According to the professor, Rajagopalan got them to sign some forms without giving time to read the contents and clandestinely transferred the ownership of those shares into his personal account. Police said signatures and writings were forged by the accused for this purpose. A forged computer generated print out was also given to the professor to mislead them that a proper transfer of the shares into their account had taken place, police said. In 2014, the professor discovered from the stock-broking company that his demat account was bereft of shares. “When I questioned Rajagopalan about this, he furnished two cheques for Rs 30 lakh as settlement. But, the cheque worth Rs 29 lakh bounced,” he said.
In some share transfer documents provided by the accused to the professor, the execution date of transfer is October 11, 2011, while the submission date is November 10, 2011. “This is a violation of norms and renders the transaction invalid,” the professor stated.
Rajagopalan has allegedly de-frauded others including the family of his former landlady of shares worth few lakh rupees in a similar manner, police said. When Express tried to reach the family, they declined to comment.
Police said the accused carefully and selectively targeted senior citizens or those unfamiliar with the local language.
With this money, he had started the Sri Lakshmi Narasimhan Housing Society near Manimangalam in Kancheepuram district. Rajagopalan and his wife are selling milk products after obtaining a dealership.
The accused and his wife, a co-accused, have been charged under Section 406, 420 and 465 of IPC. Rajagopalan was arrested on Monday and remanded to judicial custody on Tuesday.
‘clean’ sweep
■ In Oct 2011, Rajagoplan convinces the professor and his mom to transfer management of his shares to his new employer and retain him as manager
■ He then gets them to sign some forms and clandestinely transfers ownership of the shares to his personal account
■ Forged printout given to mislead them that a proper transfer had taken place