<p class="title rtejustify">City police arrested a gang for cheating a Tamil Nadu-based businessman of Rs 1.12 crore offering a 100-crore loan by posing as a minister and his entourage at the Vidhana Soudha. </p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">The gang of eight, including a father-son duo, was arrested in a joint operation by the Vidhana Soudha and Cubbon Park police.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Police arrested Karthikeyan (60), his son Swaroop K, both residents of Seshadripuram, Manikantavasan (25), resident of Banashankari III Stage, Suman K V (27), Abhilash R (27), both residents of Thyagarajanagar, R Karthik (34) from Thanjavur, Prabhu (30) from Tirunelveli, and Jomon alias Jobin (49), a resident of Old Guruppanapalya.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">To convince the victim that the 100-crore loan offer was indeed genuine, the prime accused posed as a Government of Karnataka minister, flanked by four bodyguards at the Vidhana Soudha’s corridors of power. </p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">In fact, the accused had actually managed to get hold of visitors’ entry passes and had gained access to the first floor of the Vidhana Soudha. </p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">According to the police, Ramesh, a cashew businessman from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, required a 100-crore loan to grow his business. Ramesh and his business partner Indira were approached by the gang members with the promise of the loan. They later met at a Bengaluru hotel and the gang said they would head to the Vidhana Soudha to meet a minister regarding the loan.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">On January 2, the gang took Ramesh and Indira to the Vidhana Soudha where Karthikeyan introduced himself as minister K K Shetty to the businessman and his partner. Karthikeyan’s make-believe minister then explained that he had surplus money which he can lend as a loan.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Karthikeyan, with four men dressed in safari suits as bodyguards, used a spare chamber as office on the first floor of the Vidhana Soudha by bribing a peon, Mahadevaswamy.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">The gang even used a car they acquired from the Legislative House. There was an even an assessee team that visited the businessmen in Tamil Nadu. The team even verified their IT returns.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">After all this, the partners were indeed convinced that they would get the loan.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Later, the gang met the victim again at another hotel where the latter handed over Rs 1.12 crore as stamp duty for the loan to be disbursed.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">It was after this meeting that the gang went incommunicado.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Indira then filed a complaint at the Vidhana Soudha police station.</p>
<p class="title rtejustify">City police arrested a gang for cheating a Tamil Nadu-based businessman of Rs 1.12 crore offering a 100-crore loan by posing as a minister and his entourage at the Vidhana Soudha. </p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">The gang of eight, including a father-son duo, was arrested in a joint operation by the Vidhana Soudha and Cubbon Park police.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Police arrested Karthikeyan (60), his son Swaroop K, both residents of Seshadripuram, Manikantavasan (25), resident of Banashankari III Stage, Suman K V (27), Abhilash R (27), both residents of Thyagarajanagar, R Karthik (34) from Thanjavur, Prabhu (30) from Tirunelveli, and Jomon alias Jobin (49), a resident of Old Guruppanapalya.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">To convince the victim that the 100-crore loan offer was indeed genuine, the prime accused posed as a Government of Karnataka minister, flanked by four bodyguards at the Vidhana Soudha’s corridors of power. </p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">In fact, the accused had actually managed to get hold of visitors’ entry passes and had gained access to the first floor of the Vidhana Soudha. </p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">According to the police, Ramesh, a cashew businessman from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, required a 100-crore loan to grow his business. Ramesh and his business partner Indira were approached by the gang members with the promise of the loan. They later met at a Bengaluru hotel and the gang said they would head to the Vidhana Soudha to meet a minister regarding the loan.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">On January 2, the gang took Ramesh and Indira to the Vidhana Soudha where Karthikeyan introduced himself as minister K K Shetty to the businessman and his partner. Karthikeyan’s make-believe minister then explained that he had surplus money which he can lend as a loan.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Karthikeyan, with four men dressed in safari suits as bodyguards, used a spare chamber as office on the first floor of the Vidhana Soudha by bribing a peon, Mahadevaswamy.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">The gang even used a car they acquired from the Legislative House. There was an even an assessee team that visited the businessmen in Tamil Nadu. The team even verified their IT returns.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">After all this, the partners were indeed convinced that they would get the loan.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Later, the gang met the victim again at another hotel where the latter handed over Rs 1.12 crore as stamp duty for the loan to be disbursed.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">It was after this meeting that the gang went incommunicado.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Indira then filed a complaint at the Vidhana Soudha police station.</p>
