Kisan Ration shop fraud: Absconding accused arrested

CHENNAI: Two months after the arrest of the main accused in the ‘Kisan ration shop’ cheating, wherein wholesale pulse dealers were cheated of crores, Central Crime Branch (CCB) of City police, arrested another man, R Jaiganesh (32) of Pollachi.

Jai Ganesh along with the mastermind, M Pandiarajan (44) of Triplicane and others cheated several wholesale dealers of crores of rupees, and complaints against them have been received against them in many districts. Virudhunagar and Coimbatore police have registered cases against them, said city police.

Chennai police were acting based on a complaint by NR Balaji (46) of Tondiarpet, a wholesale pulse dealer. According to Balaji’s complaint he was cheated to the tune of Rs 3.65 crore by the gang by claiming that they have approval to set up ‘Kisan ration shops’ from the central government and showed Balaji, forged approval documents.

According to police, the gang showed fake documents claiming that Kisan ration shops are Union government's new initiative to procure directly from farmers and wholesalers for retail and promised the victims that money would be credited to their bank accounts within 45 days.

N R Balaji had supplied pulses worth Rs 3.65 crore to Pandiarajan since March 2021 and received nothing in return, after which he approached the police.

Based on his complaint, the CCB registered a case and secured Pandiarajan from a hideout in April this year. Inquiries revealed that Pandiarajan hoarded the pulses procured from Balaji, sold it to other traders and pocketed the entire sum. With Jai Ganesh’s arrest, police have launched a hunt for other suspects in the case- Uma, Hariharan, Murugesan.