KOZHIKODE: A resident of Kodiyathur fell victim to a fraud perpetrated by an Andhra Pradesh native woman and lost Rs 2.09-crore by investing in non-existent projects. Though the Mukkom police nabbed her accomplice, the woman has disappeared without a trace.
The Mukkom police have started a probe into the incident and a hunt is on to nab her. The first accused has been identified as Chinthrila Rohini Roy, 25, of Guramkonda, Andhra Pradesh, and the second accused is Jaseer Eradan Hamza, 36, of Mannarkkad. Police officials said that the accused has been booked in similar cases in Hyderabad.
Haseen P P, 34, of Kodiyathur, who has been working as an engineer in the oil and gas field for a long time, met Jaseer at the company where he worked in 2012. In 2019, Jaseer introduced Rohini, a businesswoman, to Haseen. In January 2020, the three started a company called RoyOpportune with headquarters in Mukkam and Haseen put Rs 2 crore in the venture as his share.
Rohini, along with her family, claimed that they had strong ties with the leaders of Telugu Desam Party of Andhra Pradesh. Rohini showed her photographs with political and business figures in Karnataka and other places to convince the victim that she could leverage these relationships to secure lucrative projects in the energy sector.
Jaseer and Rohini told Haseen that they had invested the money in projects in energy and coal fields. However, they did not give a precise answer when Haseen asked them to return his money. Haseen approached the Hyderabad police in June 2022 when there was a delay in starting the said projects.
It was then that Haseen realised that Rohini was involved in similar financial frauds targeting expats like him. Later, he found that Rohini and Jaseer forged documents using his signature in the name of RoyOpportune and swindled Rs 2.09 crore under a project with a pharma company. On March 7, Haseen filed a complaint with Mukkam police which arrested Jaseer.