BJP man on the run for 10 months nabbed

CHENNAI: The sleuths from the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on Friday arrested two, including a suspended functionary of State BJP unit who was one of the directors of a gold trading firm that allegedly cheated investors to the tune of Rs 2,400 crore.

K Harish (31), a director of Aarudhra Gold Trading Private Limited, and J Malathy of Tondiarpet, an additional director who was in charge of the firm’s dealings in Vellore and Tiruchy, have been on the run for more than 10 months.

Meanwhile, the Registrar of Companies is conducted searches at a popular auditing firm which was allegedly involved in forging and creating fake documents for incorporation of around 1,500 firms, including Aarudhra.

According to the police, the firm had collected money from more than one lakh depositors between September 2020 and May 2022, promising them interests in the range of 25-30%.

After realising that they have been cheated, hundreds of investors approached the police across the State after which the EOW registered a case under several sections of IPC, including 420 (cheating) and sections of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes (BUDS) Act and Tamil Nadu Protection of Interests of Depositors (TNPID) Act, last May.

So far, 21 persons were booked and eight top executives of the firm, including directors Baskar, Mohanbabu, Senthil Kumar and Pattabiraman, managers Rafik and Ayyappan, and two agents have been arrested.

Two months after EOW took up investigations, Harish was appointed as the secretary of sports and skill development cell of the BJP’s State unit on June 2, 2022. The party later claimed that he was suspended.

Investigations revealed that Harish alone had collected more than Rs 210 crore from investors in Kancheepuram, where he is based, and had purchased over 30 properties in his name and that of his relatives.