Chennai, June 3 (UNI) In a significant breakthrough, the Tamil Nadu Crime Branch-CID
wing has unearthed a multi-crore Iridium Copper scam by the culprits posing as RBI
officials and arrested six people in this connection.
A CB-CID release here on Tuesday said those arrested included five from Tamil Nadu and
one from Telangana and several incriminating materials were seized from them.
It was a case of cheating of public by some groups across Tamil Nadu and neighbouring
states by collecting unauthorized deposits claiming that several thousand crore rupees
has been received from the central government through RBI for the sale of iridium copper.
They also con them saying service fee has to be paid to RBI and commission has to be
paid to higher officials of RBI to release the said amount.
These scamsters assure exorbitant returns in the range of crores by showing fabricated
RBI bonds to make the victims believe their scam.
The scam came to light when a complaint was lodged by a civilian in February 2024 on
the “Sachet” website of Reserve Bank of India for lodging complaints against unauthorized
deposit accepted by unincorporated bodies.
Subsequently, a complaint was filed by RBI Assistant General Manager A.J. Kennedy in
May 2024 to the Chennai Police Commissioner and the same was directed to the CBCID.
After conducting a preliminary enquiry, a case has been registered in Salem OCU CBCID
unit U/s 419, 465, 468, 471, 420 IPC and 66 D Information Technology Act 2000 r/w five
Emblems and Name (Prevention of Improper use) Act, 1950 and taken up for investigation
in March 2025.
During investigation, the accused persons Nithyanandham, Chandra (both from Thanjavur
district of Tamil Nadu) were arrested and remanded on May 28.
Further investigations led to the arrest of four more accused Anbumani from Dharmapuri
district, Muthusamy a native of Salem district, Kesavan also from Salem and Gadi Charla
Kishore Kumar of of Telangana state.
They were subsequently remanded in custody.
The release said a gold-coloured metal, few forged documents, Cell phones with incriminating
materials have been seized from the accused persons.
Inquiries revealed that the accused have cheated many people across Tamil Nadu and in Andhra
Pradesh.
So far, around 20 victims from Chennai, Thanjavur, Coimbatore, Salem, Namakkal and Dharmapuri,
have been identified and said to have been cheated of money to the tune of Rs 4.5 crores collectively by the accused persons.
The scamsters induced victims to invest money in the allegedly secretly maintained central government Iridium trade scheme by showing forged credit certificates in the name of the depositors with RBI emblem.
Thereafter, when the victims contacted them for the promised returns, the accused kept dodging them.
After a point, they hired persons to pose as RBI officials and meet the victims in star hotels in Delhi
or Mumbai and assure them of returns.
Once this is done, they even go to the extent of creating a bank account and share credentials with the victims saying money will be deposited in this account.
Investigation is going on to arrest remaining persons of this racket and to identify more victims.
UNI GV 0630