Chennai, Nov 28 (IANS): The political assistant of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami was arrested by the Crime Branch on Sunday for duping a youth by promising him a government job, police said.

Police said that G. Mani, along with another AIADMK functionary, K. Selvakumar, took Rs 17 lakh from Tamil Selvan hailing from Neyveli promising him a government job.

Mani and Selvakumar, however, were not able to provide a government job to Tamil Selvan as promised and he demanded the return of the money. The duo returned Rs 4 lakh and threatened Tamil Selvan with dire consequences if he asked for the balance amount.

Tamil Selvan then approached the police and a case of cheating and criminal conspiracy was registered against both Mani and Selvakumar by the Salem police in October 2021.

Following this, the duo went underground. However, Mani was arrested from his residence at Omalur near Salem while Selvakumar is still at large.

Salem district police Crime Branch officers told IANS that they are probing whether the duo had taken money from others promising government jobs.