THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Interpol has issued Red Notice against prominent rationalist Sanal Edamaruku, who is now residing in Finland, after the Central Bureau of Investigation sought the help of the global agency to trace the 65-year-old, who is accused of swindling Rs 15 lakh from a woman after giving her a phoney promise to provide Finnish visa. Based on the Red Notice, the agencies have moved a lookout circular for the accused. The red notice is a request issued by the Interpol to locate and provisionally arrest an accused pending extradition or who is wanted for prosecution.
Alappuzha North Police had registered a case against Sanal in 2018 for allegedly duping Prameela Devi, a government employee, by offering her a Finland visa, job and Residence Permit. According to the chargesheet filed by the police, Prameela had sent the amount in various intervals to Sanal’s account but soon found out that he was cheating her. Sanal was subsequently booked for cheating and breach of trust and the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Alappuzha issued an arrest warrant against the rationalist.
The complainant, Prameela, said she wanted the agencies to extradite Sanal and complete the rest of the legal procedure. “I met him during a meeting of the rationalists and he promised to arrange a visa, job and residence permit in Finland, where he has been staying for some time. I transferred to his account Rs 15 lakh as per his demand. But after that I did not hear from him.
He had blocked my calls after which I approached the police. Subsequently, he tried to contact me through an intermediary asking me to withdraw the case first so that he can repay the amount in installments. But I could not trust him anymore and rejected the offer,” Prameela said.