CHENNAI: A 61-year-old man who was involved in a suspected donation scam was allegedly abducted by a gang from Anna Nagar on Friday. One of the accused has been arrested and remanded in judicial custody, they added.
According to Anna Nagar police, F Edwin is an online trader. In February, Edwin’s friend Saptharishi Banerjee, who lives in Dubai, offered to help in channelling donations from abroad to any trusts that Edwin might know of. The latter allegedly referred Saptharishi to his friend, one N Ameenuddin Mohammed (32) of Velachery, who in turn put him in touch with Vaishnavi, who runs a trust called Dhanvantri, police said.
Subsequently, Saptharishi promised Vaishnavi to bring in Rs 1,000 crore as donations, police said. A few days later, Vaishnavi, her colleague Moinudeen, and Ameenuddin, went to Dubai and met Saptharishi, they added. There he told them that with the help of a private company, he had arranged for the promised amount.
However, he allegedly demanded Rs 35 lakh as commission and assured them they would receive the money by March. Ameenuddin proceeded to transfer the commission amount to Saptharishi’s bank account. But as March went by, the donation never materialised and all attempts to contact Saptharishi failed, police said.
On Friday, Ameenuddin asked Edwin to come to a spot in Anna Nagar and allegedly abducted him in his car. Edwin was taken to a place near Ambattur where Edwin’s wife Ashley (54) was asked bring gold jewellery and blank cheque leaves, according to police. Ameenuddin and his gang then attacked Edwin, and threatened the couple to repay the commission, police added.
Police said that before they fled, the gang took Rs 25,000 from Edwin and five sovereigns of gold jewellery from Ashley. Based on a complaint, police arrested Ameenuddin on Saturday. Further investigation is on, they said.