THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The special police team of Tamil Nadu probing the Nirmal Krishna chit fund fraud case has arrested three more persons, including the elder brother of key accused Nirmalan Krishnan Nair. The arrested were identified as Narayanan Nair, Radhakrishnan and Mahesh. Narayanan Nair is the elder brother of Krishnan Nair while Radhakrishnan and Mahesh were staffs of the firm.
According to the police, the accused were nabbed from a farmhouse at Valliyoor, near Nagercoil. They were residing in the farmhouse under fake names and addresses.
The police said Narayanan Nair is the key ‘benami’ of Krishnan Nair. It is found that a major chunk of property of Krishnan Nair were registered in the name of Narayanan Nair. The accused were under the police surveillance for the past few weeks and they landed in the police net after confirming their real identities. They were later shifted to the Economic Offences Wing at Nagercoil for interrogation. Upon interrogation, they had confessed to the crime, officers said.
Last month, the key accused Nirmalan Krishnan Nair surrendered before the district court at Madurai. He was later taken to some of the offices in Kanniyakumari district for evidence collection. Nirmalan had gone absconding since closing down the Nirmal Krishna chit fund company Pvt Ltd at Palukal in September. Reports said he was under pressure from certain VIPs in the state to surrender. The ‘VIPs’ are apprehensive that the probe may ultimately zero in on them. Hence they told Nair to surrender so that the probe comes to an end.
Nirmal Krishna chit fund company, a finance firm which functioned at Palukal in Tamil Nadu and close to Kerala border, had allegedly duped over 13,600 investors from Kerala and Tamil Nadu who had deposited over `500 crore under various investment schemes on the promise of good returns. Among them were several people hailing from Parassala, Vellarada and Kunnathukal areas bordering Tamil Nadu. The cheating came to light after the office failed to reopen after the Onam holidays.
The firm had registered the mortgaged properties in the names of the arrested persons. The firm had collected deposits from various persons, including businessmen and politicians, from Kanniyakumari and Thiruvananthapuram districts.