THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Malayalam actress Dhanya Mary Varghese has been arrested along with her husband and brother-in-law in connection with a Rs 130 crore cheating case filed by investors in a company promoted by her husband's family, police said today.
Dhanya, her husband John Jacob, managing director of Samson and Sons Builders and Developers Pvt Ltd, and his brother Samuel Jacob were taken into custody in Nagercoil on the basis of complaints from various investors who had been promised apartments and villas promised by the developers, police said.
Dhanya is the sales director of the company.
Police said Dhanya's father-in-law, Jacob Samson, chairman of the company, has been arrested earlier.
The real estate company took various realty and housing projects in Thiruvananthapuram in 2011, promising to deliver 500 flats and 20 villas within two years. They collected Rs 100 crore as advance payments from various people, including non-resident Keralites and another Rs 30 crore as deposits promising high rates of interest, police said.
However, they failed to deliver the promised flats, and several people filed complaints with the police.
The three were said to have been hiding in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Kerala before they were arrested in Nagercoil by a special investigation team constituted by the Thiruvananthapuram police commissioner, police said.
Dhanya debuted in the Tamil film Thirudi. She has acted in several Malayalam films including Thalappavu, Kerala Cafe, Nayakan, Red Chillies and Pranayam, before getting married in January 2012.