KOCHI: In 2020, the police received complaints from several persons regarding a loan fraud racket operating in the city which swindled gullible people who were forced to shell out huge amounts as processing fee in return for arranging new loans and re-financing pending ones.
The probe team was groping in the dark to track the accused as they fled from the city after duping several people without leaving any clue, even a phone number. The duo did all transactions with the Aadhaar card taken by Lingamurthy, the first accused, in a Kochi address. Finally, the police officers found a date of birth, suspected to be of one of the accused, on some documents seized from the firm the accused ran on MG Road and the rented house at Cheranalloor.
Subsequently, the police team approached the Bureau of Immigration to find out if any passport has been issued based on this date of birth. In a major relief to the officers, it was found that a passport was issued in this date of birth and the address was of Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu. They tracked down the person on that address and upon interrogation, he disclosed the whereabouts of the other accused.
“It was very difficult for the police to reach the accused as they concealed their original address. Two more persons are yet to be arrested in the case and they will be netted soon,” said S Vijayshankar, Inspector of Police, Central Police Station, who is heading the investigation. A police team led by Pudukottai SI Marimuthu helped the Central Police team nab the accused.