KOCHI: A ‘rice puller’ scam has surfaced in the city as a Kochi-based publisher was duped of `80 lakh by a gang active in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Ernakulam North police arrested a Bengaluru native, who posed as metallurgist of Washington-based Global Space Metals and certified by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), for his alleged involvement in the scam.
The scam
The arrested person is Jacob, 55, a native of Banjara Layout in Bengaluru. In 2016, a Tamil Nadu-based gang approached the publisher here saying they had identified a rice puller stocked at a house in Coimbatore. They convinced the publisher that the rice puller has nuclear power and with the Centre’s certification, it could be sold to NASA for at least `1 lakh crore.
“After reaching the house in Coimbatore, the gang called Jacob to test the capability of the rice puller. After examining the compound of the house, Jacob told the victim that rice puller is very powerful and it can be checked only by wearing an anti-radiation kit. He took `25 lakh from the victim for testing and buying an anti-radiation kit,” an officer said.
A few days later, Jacob turned up with the anti-radiation kit and checked the rice puller. After the examination, he certified that the rice-puller lacks power. In a similar fashion, the gang led the victim to other places in Tamil Nadu to check rice pullers. On each occasion, Jacob charged money for the testing purpose but certified the rice pullers as lacking the power to be sold to NASA.“The victim paid around Rs 80 lakh in total for testing various rice pullers. After realising that he was cheated, the victim lodged a complaint recently. We had been tracking the group for the last few months,” the officer said.
Police pull a fast one
Following the statement given by the victim, the police could trace the real identity of Jacob.
“Later, posing as a member of a fraud gang, a member of the police team contacted Jacob. He was told that there is a rice puller at a house in Kochi and Rs 25 lakh will be given in remuneration if he inspects its quality. He was taken into custody when he arrived in Kochi on Thursday,” the officer said.“A fake identity card and a safety jacket used by Fire and Rescue Service personnel which accused claimed to be an anti-radiation kit were seized,” he said.
Other gang members
The police have identified that there were six members in the gang which duped the publisher. They includes owners of the houses to which the accused persons took the victim to check the rice pullers. “We are tracking down other members of the gang. All are from Tamil Nadu. Mostly businessmen get cheated by such fraudsters. In Kerala, many have been victims of rice puller scams and but people rarely lodge a complaint with the police fearing a probe into their assets,” an official said. The accused was later produced before the court and remanded to the judicial custody. Police will seek the custody of the accused next week.