CHENNAI: Seven months after duping two siblings, 22-year-old Punithashree and her 16-year-old brother, of their gold jewellery weighing 16 sovereigns, a 52-year-old man and his daughter was arrested from Kolathur on Thursday. The suspects, Manish (name changed) and his 16-year-old daughter, are from Coimbatore.
Sources said Manish, who had been renting the ground floor of Punithashree’s house in Tiruvannamalai district posing as a doctor at a private hospital, had lured the girl to come to Chennai under the pretext of a photoshoot for her to act in films. Punithashree and her brother accompanied Manish and his daughter in his car to Chennai on June 16, 2025.
Police said after taking the brother-sister duo to various tourist spots in the city, Manish took them to a textile store, bought them new clothes, and asked them to try them. Before leaving for the trial room, the siblings put their gold ornaments that weighed 16 sovereigns, and two mobile phones and Rs 1,000 in cash, in a bag and handed it to the man. When they went to the trial room, Manish and his daughter allegedly fled with the bag containing the valuables.
Based on a complaint from Punithashree and her brother, a case was registered. A probe revealed that Manish and his family, posing as doctors, had executed similar frauds in Tiruchy, Coimbatore, Dharmapuri, Velachery, and other places. The family had sold the gold ornaments and used the money for expenses. A search is under way for Manish’s wife.