The Vadapalani police, on Tuesday, June 18, 2024, arrested three persons who were involved in threatening and swindling a 52-year-old resident of Vadapalani.
A senior official of the Chennai City police said T. Sriram, a resident of Kumaran Colony in Vadapalani, received a call on May 20 from a person claiming to be a customs officer from Mumbai. The caller said a courier parcel received in Sriram’s name had been impounded because it contained narcotics and if he did not want legal action against him, he had to deposit ₹1 lakh into a bank account. Fearing legal action Sriram deposited the money. However, he continued to receive calls from the same person over the next few days demanding that more money be paid, and he then deposted another ₹40,000.
Sriram later found out that he had been the victim of a scam. He then filed a complaint at the Vadapalani police station. The police began an investigation and identified three persons: S. Nandini of Purasawalkam, being the prime accused. However all the three were absconding. Following on a lookout notice issued to all airports, Nandini was arrested by Immigration officials at the Chennai airport on June 18, when she came back on a flight from Malaysia. The other two were also secured: R. Praveen Kumar and Ranjith Kumar alias Ajith.
All the three persons were later produced before a judicial magistrate and sent to prison.
