Madurai District Crime Branch (DCB) officers on Sunday arrested fake IAS officer Madhu Ganesh Menon, accused of cheating, from a hotel in New Delhi, following a four-month manhunt. A police team, led by DCB Inspector Dinakaran, nabbed him after tracing his mobile phone tower location.
Madhu Ganesh Menon (34) was the son of Sridharan Menon of Sri Nilayam, Iyankara House, Annamanada, Thrissur in Kerala. He was booked in a cheating case by the DCB, based on a complaint by K Narayanan, a carpenter from Villupuram, A Selvaraj of Jaihindpuram and K Suresh Kumar, a businessman from Pankajam Colony. Following a directive by District SP V Balakrishnan, a case against him was registered by Sub Inspector Vasanthi in the DCB.
Suresh Kumar was cheated of Rs 43 lakh by Madhu Ganesh Menon, who assured him of procuring a medical seat for his daughter under the central quota in a government medical college. Suresh Kumar gave the money to Madhu Ganesh for getting the medical seat in the 2012-13 academic year. But Madhu Ganesh didn’t get the medical seat or return the money.
As per the complaint, Madhu Ganesh Menon posed as a top IAS officer in the Prime Minister’s Office in New Delhi. He gave visiting cards to the complainant claiming that he was — Madhu Ganesh Menon (IAS), Planning Department, Prime Minister’s Office, No. 7, Race Course Road, New Delhi.
During investigation, the police found that he had only finished a degree and that he didn’t hold any post in the Central or State governments. As he knew several languages such as English, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada and Tamil, he deceived those who sought his help to secure medical college seats.
Madhu Ganesh used to stay in posh hotels in cities like Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Bangalore and Goa and roamed in a vehicle sporting a red beacon, the police said.
The police had arrested his father Sridharan Menon two months ago, though he was later released on bail. The police said most of the ‘transactions’ were done in the presence of Sridharan Menon. When the complainants went to Kerala to recover their amount, Madhu Ganesh allegedly threatened them using a pistol, the police said.
Two months ago, the police conducted a raid at his temporary house in Ernakulam and seized a pistol, bank passbooks and fake visiting cards.
Based on the orders of SP Balakrishnan, the Madurai police team went to Delhi on Tuesday to nab him.