Rs 2,400 cr Aarudhra Scam: TN BJP functionary arrested

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on Friday arrested two persons, including a suspended functionary of Tamil Nadu BJP, K Harish (31) who was one of the directors of Aarudhra Gold trading private limited, which allegedly cheated investors to the tune of Rs 2,400 crore.

Apart from Harish, Police also arrested J Malathy of Tondiarpet who was an additional director in the firm, in charge of the firm's dealings in Vellore and Tiruchy regions.

Both of them were absconding for more than 10 months and managed to evade arrest.

According to Police, the firm had collected money from over one lakh depositors between September 2020 and May 2022, promising them interests in the range of 25-30 % for their deposits.

After investors realised that they have been cheated, hundreds of them approached the police across the state after which, in May last year, 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 Sections of the Tamil Nadu Protection of Interests of Depositors (TNPID) Act.

A total of 21 persons were booked and eight top executives of the firm including the Directors- Baskar, Mohanbabu, Senthil Kumar, Pattabiraman and managers Rafik, Ayyappan and two agents were arrested.

Meanwhile, two months after EOW took up investigations in the case, Harish was appointed as the secretary of sports and skill development cell of TN BJP on June 2, 2022. Harish who claims to be a national level boxer was eventually suspended, claims TN BJP.