Chennai: A 44-year-old man who cheated a pulse wholesaler to the tune of Rs 3.65 crore in the name of Union government's non-existant Kisan ration shops has been arrested by the city police's Central Crime Branch.

Investigation revealed that the accused M Pandirajan of Triplicane conspired with others and cheated several wholesalers in the same manner to the tune of several crores and complaints against them have been received against them in many districts. Virudhunagar and Coimbatore police have registered cases against them, said city police.

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 of Tondiarpet, who lodged a complaint against the gang with CCB, had stated that he supplied pulses worth Rs 3.65 crore to Pandiarajan since March 21 and received nothing in return.

Based on his complaint, the CCB registered a case and secured Pandirajan from a hideout. Inquiries revealed that Pandiarajan hoarded the pulses procured from Balaji, sold it to other traders and pocketed the entire sum.

Pandirajan was remanded in judicial custody on Wednesday and a hunt has been launched for other suspects in the case - Uma, Hariharan, Murugesan and Jai Ganesh.

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