Father-son duo cheats investors of Rs 60 crores in Coimbatore, arrested

COIMBATORE: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Coimbatore City Police arrested a father-son duo for allegedly cheating investors of Rs 60 crores by running an investment firm here.

According to officials, Manikandan Balakrishnan (48), a resident of Krishnaswamy Nagar near Ramanathapuram, and his son Sanjay Kumar (27), both directors of the firm were arrested on Wednesday night based on complaints received from the investors.

They were booked under sections of the IPC and the Tamil Nadu Protection of Interest of Depositors Act.
The duo operated the company named 'Green Crest Investment' from Krishnaswamy Nagar in Ramanathapuram for more than a year, the officials said.

After a group of investors besieged the duo's house on Wednesday, the EOW police arrested and remanded both the suspects on the same night.

The preliminary inquiry, police said, revealed that around 8,000 people invested in the firm and the duo cheated them of at least `60 crore by promising a daily return of 0.5 per cent interest on their investments. The police said that the duo even promised to return the principal amount 11 months after the investment.

"The firm also offered referral income in multiple levels on par with Multilevel Marketing (MLM)," police said.

According to investors, the firm discontinued paying returns since May 2020. An investor alleged that both the directors threatened of dire consequences when asked for returns.

The EOW police are expecting complaints from investors following the arrests, sources said.

"We have found a picture, in which the suspect Manikandan is seen with a former Indian cricketer. It is not clear if the picture is original or whether it was used just to portray himself as a person having influential contacts. We are yet to ascertain details of their family members, business partners, and if they have invested the money elsewhere," a police source said.

Members of Pattali Makkal Katchi, which reported the issue first last year, urged the police and district administration to take stringent action against the duo and ensure the investors are refunded.