Trio buys phones worth Rs 3.5 cr using fake sureties, 2 arrested

The police also launched a hunt for the director of the private firm who was also involved in the cheating. The duo was identified as Mohammad Sirajuddin, employed as financial advisor, and Bhavan Hasan Balachandra of Karnataka, working as sales manager of a private firm, TSN EcoTech International Private Limited, which was involved in mobile phone sales business and headquartered in Tiruchy with its branches in Chennai.

They defaulted the payment to several mobile phone companies in 2017 and colluded with the company’s director Thothappa Naina Mohammed Sirajuddin and created fake sureties like it was received from two private banks, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh respectively. They submitted them to Redington and Ingram companies in Guindy to get Lenovo mobile phones and iPhones worth Rs 3.5 crore.

“They sold these phones through a wholesale mobile dealer, identified as Vikrant Chowdary, in Rajasthan and spent the cash for their personal use. They also transferred some of the pending dues to a few banks through internet transaction,” said police.

After they defaulted payments to Redington and Ingram, they lodged a police complaint in Tiruchy and Chennai, which was later transferred to CB-CID for further investigation. The trio was booked under Sections 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using a forged as genuine) of the IPC.

A hunt was launched for the absconding suspects and the duo was secured from their hideouts in Bengaluru and Chennai. During interrogation, they reportedly confessed to have cheated the two firms. 

The CB-CID police inspector Mahalakshmi and her team arrested the duo and remanded them in judicial custody after producing the accused before a magistrate court in the city on Wednesday. A hunt has been launched for the TSN EcoTech International Private Limited’s director Thothappa Naina Mohammed Sirajuddin.