CHENNAI: Two persons from Erode, including an absconding accused, were arrested by the city police’s Cyber Crime wing in separate cases of fraud.

Last year, Krishnan Kumar Kaushal (60), a native of Himachal Pradesh, who retired in July 2024 as Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) approached the police after he lost Rs 6.58 crore to cyber fraudsters.

The former IFS officer had received links to 2 apps on WhatsApp in December 2024, and was told to download them by cons posing as customer service executives. He ended up doing online transfers of Rs 6.58 crore to fraudster’s accounts.

Police first arrested five suspects from New Delhi and surrounding areas. Subsequently, three more from Kerala were arrested in May last year, and another was arrested in November. On January 9, absconding accused, Madhesh Kumar (41) of Ondipalayam, Erode, was arrested.

In another case, a 41-year-old man from Erode was arrested for an online investment fraud case in which a city resident was cheated of Rs 1.23 crore. The resident of Villivakkam was lured into the scam by a WhatsApp message about a stock trading app promising exponential returns. After getting profit on his Rs 1 lakh investment, the complainant ended up investing Rs 1.23 crore over several months.

However, when he tried to withdraw the money, fraudsters demanded more money after which he realised he was scammed and approached the police with a complaint.

During the investigation, the Cyber Crime wing found that some of the money was diverted to the account of Senthil Kumar (41) of Moolapalayam, Erode. Police arrested him on January 9 (Friday).