Trio who swindled Rs 12 lakh to hold witchcraft arrested in Ariyalur

TIRUCHY: Three persons who cheated a person of Rs 12 lakh for performing witchcraft in Ariyalur were arrested on Tuesday. It is said, Vijayakumar from Ariyalur was contacted by a gang claiming he had been affected by the evil eye and he needed to ward off that for which he had to oblige to undergo witchcraft and a ‘parikrama’ at Kollimalai and the caller demanded a fee of Rs 12 lakh. Believing this, Vijayakumar reportedly arranged the fund and transferred part amount to their bank account and the remaining in person. Since the gang failed to perform the ritual, Vijayakumar realised he was cheated and lodged a complaint with Cyber Crime police in Ariyalur who identified the culprits as S Vallaraj (25), his brother S Krishnan (24) from Redhills in Tiruvallur and M Saniyan alias Kumar (39) from Salem. All three were arrested and Rs 6.30 lakh, two-wheelers and jewels were recovered.