Tamil Nadu's 'Gold Man' arrested in cheating case

Bengaluru: A. Hari Nadar, known as Tamil Nadu's 'gold man' and a politician, has been arrested for running an inter-state organised crime racket and cheating a Bengaluru businessman of a whopping sum of Rs 7.2 crore.

The Bengaluru Central Crime Branch police have seized 3,893 gms of gold ornaments valued more than Rs 2 crore and Rs 8.76 lakh cash from him besides seizing his MUV vehicle.

The CCB police arrested Nadar aka Hari Gopalakirshna Nadar from a resort in Kerala on Wednesday whereas the police had already arrested his Kerala-based accomplice Ranjit Panikkar on April 7 and during interrogation, he had spilt the beans about Nadar's modus operandi.

According to the press note by the CCB, Nadar used to pick businessmen who wanted huge loans running into hundred crores and above.

The complaint filed by Shastri stated that Nadar invited them to meet in a Kerala resort, who were in search of a loan of Rs 360 crore at a 'cheaper interest rate'.

"Nadar invited them to resort on multiple occasions and finalised the deal by getting the loan sanctioned at an interest rate of 6 per cent but on a condition that he must get paid two per cent commission which works out a whopping sum of Rs 7.2 crore," the complaint stated.

The complaint added that Nadar showed Bengaluru businessman the Demand Draft of Rs 360 crore and asked him to immediately transfer Rs 7.2 crore to his account.

"Complainant transferred money and took the possession of the DD but he realised that it was a fake DD when he submitted it to the bank to encash," the police said.

The police added that when Shastri demanded Nadar to return his commission amount of Rs 7.2 crore or get him the genuine DD, the accused threatened him of dire consequences.

"This prompted Shastri to lodge a complaint in Vidhana Soudha policy limits," the police explained.

According to the police, Nadar has in past also cheated several other businessmen with the same modus operandi in various states including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

In Tamil Nadu, Nadar who identifies himself as a businessman and social worker is known for often wearing layers of gold.

The 39-year-old is the coordinator of a political outfit called Pannagatu Padai Katchi.

According to his Election Affidavit, he has declared more than 15 criminal cases against him and two of them are registered in Bengaluru in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

(as per an IANS report)