1 month ago

'Helicopter Brothers' Accused Of Cheating Their Town's People Of Rs 600 Cr Arrested

3 min read
byline fb
Gursharan BhallaUpdated on Aug 06, 2021, 17:20 IST

The ‘helicopter brothers’ of Kumbakonam, MR Ganesh and MR Swaminathan, who are accused of cheating people of Rs 600 crore, were nabbed by the Thanjavur district crime branch officials from a hideout in Pudukkotai.

What has happened?

The police acted based on a complaint from a couple, Jafarullah and Fairaj Banu. The couple claimed that they had deposited Rs 15 crore in the financial entity owned by the brothers. They alleged that when they asked for the money, the brothers threatened them citing their political affiliations.

Based on a tip-off, the police officials reached a farmhouse in Vendanpatti in Pudukkotai on Thursday and arrested both Ganesh and Swaminathan. They are being interrogated at an undisclosed area. On July 21, an FIR was registered and special teams were formed by the district crime branch officials.

brothers PTI

Five people – Srikanthan and Venkatesan, who were managers of the financial entity run by the brothers, MR Ganesh’s wife Akhila, accountants Meera and her brother Sriram were arrested. The police also seized 12 luxury cars owned by the brothers.

The Thanjavur district crime branch had filed an FIR against the two brothers and two others under sections 406, 420 and 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code for cheating, breach of trust and criminal conspiracy.

What did they do?

The brothers, natives of Thiruvarur, settled in Kumbakonam six years ago and were running a dairy business. They were known for living life king-size. They then started a financial entity named Victory Finance, and in 2019, registered an aviation company named Arjun Aviation (OPC) Private Limited.

Over the last few years, they have been collecting money from people with the promise of doubling the money invested in one year from the date of investment. Although they were reportedly able to fulfill their promise initially, things started going downhill for them when the Covid pandemic struck.

brothers-610d1ccf48297 brothers-610d1ccf48297

When people who had invested in the scheme began to ask for their money, the brothers did not return the amount and cited losses due to the pandemic. They asked for more time to return the money. Several people then started raising an alarm that they were not getting the money they invested nor the interest. Posters demanding action against the brothers were posted across the district.

Younger brother linked to BJP

Apart from the couple that filed the police complaint, several others came forward in the media and alleged that they had been cheated. While one man allegedly lost Rs 25 lakh, another lost Rs 50 lakh.

helicopter-flower-1200-610d1d041b673 helicopter-flower-1200-610d1d041b673

The younger of the two brothers, MR Ganesh, was the BJP traders' wing leader in the town. He was stripped of his party membership after the allegations against him emerged. Thanjavur (North) BJP leader N Satheesh Kumar on July 18 issued a statement saying Ganesh had been removed from his post.   

The Conversation (0)

Start a conversation, not a fire. Post with kindness.