COIMBATORE: It’s business as usual at the handicrafts shop on Cross Cut Road, Gandhipuram, once owned by self-styled godman Annamalai, aka Sri Sri Selvam Siddhar, who was sentenced to 27 years in prison by a court in the US State of Georgia on Wednesday. Siddhar is believed to have used the shop’s employees as benamis in transferring his ill-gotten money from the United States to India.
The court had convicted Annamalai on charges of credit card fraud. Selvam used to charge ‘fees’ from his followers and use their credit card details to swindle their money.
Speaking to Express, S M Ravichandran, a member of the Cyber Society of India, who assists the Coimbatore Cyber Crime Cell in tracking down criminals online, said that Annamalai had cheated people in the US of about 2-3 million dollars. He had transferred cash to the account of one S V Muthukrishnan, who was the prime witness who helped the prosecution in building a water-tight case against his former boss.
Muthukrishnan, who was working as Annamalai’s assistant, had opened a joint account with P Arumugam, a cashier-cum-manager at Chettinadu Handicrafts. Annamalai is said to have transferred around Rs 50 lakh in cash between 2005 and 2007.
Although police officials maintain that Muthukrishnan fell out with Annamalai, which made him severe ties with his former boss and turn informer, Muthukrishnan himself maintained that he was unaware of the fraud.
Speaking to Express, Muthukrishnan said that he and Arumugam had invested in real estate based on the instructions of ‘Commander’ Selvam (Annamalai). “We had no idea that the money being funnelled into our accounts was ill-gotten,” he said. Arumugam is still working for Annamalai, sources claimed.
When Express visited the store on Thursday, a worker said that the store had been taken over by a third-party, but conceded that Arumugam still pops in for a visit occasionally.
Police sources said that they had not yet been informed of any immovable assets belonging to Annamalai, which were purchased through the funds obtained through the fraud.
“Only the Enforcement Directorate can take possession of any of Annamalai’s properties as he was convicted on charges framed in the United States,” a police source told Express.