New Delhi, Mar 28 (IANS): Over five years after a Red Corner Notice (RCN) was issued against economic offender Sudeer Muhammed Cheriya Vannarakkal, India has managed his deportation from Saudi Arabia and taken him into custody.
Vannarakkal was brought to India late on Saturday night after his deportation from Riyadh, with close assistance and coordination with Saudi authorities through Interpol channels, and arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at the Delhi airport.
He was produced before the competent court at Kerala's Ernakulam earlier on Sunday and it sent him to judicial custody up to April 8.
Involved in five cases registered by the CBI at Chennai, the agency had got the RCN issued against Vannarakkal, through Interpol, on November 3, 2015.
The CBI had registered the five cases on orders of the Kerala High Court and taken over the investigation of the cases, earlier registered at police station Kasargod (Kerala).
In four cases, it was alleged that Vannarakkal and others floated a private company based at Kasargod, made false promises to the public at large with the assurance to return of investment with exorbitant rate of interest after 61 days of their investments. They also promised to pay commission of two per cent per month to the agents who had mobilised investments for the company.
Vannarakkal, along with six of his associates and a private company, also floated a fraudulent scheme called Forex trade (trading with foreign currencies). They promised a monthly return of seven per cent on principal to the depositors and two per cent to the agents for mobilising the depositors.
They collected Rs 9,93,68,000 from depositors and cheated them by not repaying the assured returns as well as the principal amount, thereby caused huge loss to the depositors, said the CBI.
After investigation, a charge sheet was filed in Ernakulam court and the accused were later declared Proclaimed Offenders.
The fifth case was registered on the allegations that the accused induced the petitioner to arrange Rs 50 lakh as deposit and promised to give monthly returns arising out of his business to the depositors.
The complainant allegedly invested Rs 19 lakh in 2011 in the company but received neither the returns nor his principal amount.