Man held for cheating senior citizen of Rs 1.63 crore promising APRO post to his son in Thanjavur

TIRUCHY: Thanjavur police on Tuesday arrested a man for cheating a senior citizen of Rs 1.63 crore with a promise of getting Assistant Public Relations Officer (APRO) post for his son.

It is said that in 2014, K Mohandas (48), a resident of Ammapettai in Thanjavur who has been running a grocery shop met K Chidambaram (72), a resident of the same place but currently residing at Mylapore in Chennai and introduced himself as a politician who has close association with several elected members from across the state. So Chidambaram asked Mohandas to help his son get a government job.

Mohandas promised Chidambaram that he could arrange an APRO post for his son with his close proximity to a senior minister then and demanded money for the purpose to distribute it to several persons, including the particular ‘minister’.

Mohandas also promised Chidambaram of getting back the money if the job did not materialise.

Believing Mohandas, Chidambaram handed over a sum of Rs 1.63 crore in various instalments from March 2014 to June 2017, but he could not arrange the employment as per the promise till 2018. So Chidambaram approached Mohandas to give back the money.

Since Chidambaram insisted on the money, Mohandas gave back a loan guarantee document along with nine cheques to the tune of Rs 1.63 crore that he owed to Chidambaram during the period between 2021 and 2022. However, the cheques had bounced due to no balance.

Subsequently, Chidambaram passed on the information about the status of the cheques and continued to demand his money back, but Mohandas, instead of giving back the money, threatened the senior citizen Chidambaram with dire consequences. The elderly man complained to the Thanjavur SP on February 21, 2025.

The Crime Branch police, who conducted an investigation, registered a case against Mohandas on March 14, and on March 20, the police went to the grocery shop of Mohandas. On seeing the police, Mohandas injured himself and admitted himself to the Thanjavur Medical College hospital, stating that the police had tortured him for money. But still, the police arrested him on Tuesday. Further investigations are on.