29-year-old cheats pvt institute students of Rs 36 lakh, arrested

The accused, B Muthukumar of Red Hills, approached V Sindhuja of Medavakkam, who runs a vocational training institute in the locality and offered to get jobs for her students in Singapore if she paid him Rs 1 lakh per candidate. Believing him, Sindhuja collected Rs 1 lakh each from 36 students and gave it to Muthukumar in January.

As he did not fulfil his promise, Sindhuja went to his house last week and asked him to return the money. However, Muthukumar refused and instead threatened her of dire consequences.

Following this, Sindhuja lodged a complaint at the Pallikaranai police station. Muthukumar was arrested after an investigation, said the city police.

A Cuddalore-based businessman lost Rs 24.5 lakh to a fraudster, who promised to get Central government jobs for his two sons. The police said that the victim Sadhasivam gave the amount in two instalments to the suspect, Mani Venkatakrishnan of Mayiladuthurai, at a hotel in Anna Nagar. The Arumbakkam police have registered a case and further investigation is on.

In another case, a couple who was running a chit fund scheme has absconded with Rs 1 crore collected from their customers. Police said that Karthik, a fisherman, and his wife collected more than Rs 1 crore from 205 people in Perungudi over three years.

They recently went absconding and the affected families have lodged a collective complaint at the Thoraipakkam police station. The police have launched a hunt for the couple.