Woman, son in police net for suspected con job

The Ulsoor police arrested Valsala Madhu (40) and her son MV Arun Kumar (23), residents of Parry’s in Chennai, who claimed to have “almost” acquired the Vydehi group of institutions for a whopping Rs 200 crore.

The duo claimed to be the main representatives of the Chennai-based Valsa Educational Trust and had negotiated to take over Vydehi institutions and also produced some documents showing they had paid Rs 100 crore as advance towards sale proceedings.

The police have been left scratching their heads when the two narrated their side of the story which sleuths are taking with a pinch of salt now, since they have the onerous task of verifying the facts.

Based on the directions of the additional chief judicial magistrate on August 25, 2009, a case was registered at Whitefiled Police Station where Kalpaja, a director at Vydehi College, complained that Valsala Madhu and her son Arun Kumar had tried to tarnish their institution’s image by issuing false advertisements and spreading rumours that the college was up for sale.

Subsequently, the then investigating officer, Gopalkrishna Gowda, visited Chennai a couple of times and tried his best to book the culprits as the complainant failed to respond and provide adequate papers that might have helped nail the culprits.

Thereafter, on May 14, this year, a gang of four stopped Dr Chalapathi, medical officer of the institution, near Ulsoor Lake and threatened him to mediate with Kalpaja and clear the deal.

According to the complaint, the gang threatened Chalapathi at gunpoint and ordered to push the case and complete the formalities.

Things then took an ugly turn when Chalapathi started receiving threat calls from Chennai, forcing him to lodge a complaint with Ulsoor Police Station. It was on the basis of this complaint that Valsala and Arun were arrested on Wednesday. It is now being suspected that the two had hired the goons to execute the “job.” To the police, Valsala produced documents and cheque details—bank account no 602005118198 (in a private Indian bank with a branch at Parry’s, Chennai) and a cheque bearing number 216701—with which she claims to have paid the advance amount. 

She also dropped two names—one Ramachandran, who is a private secretary to Vydehi’s director, and Shiva Shankar Babu, chief accounts officer of the institution. The police are trying to ascertain the role Ramachandran and Babu  might have played in the entire episode. The woman and her son also produced hard copies of e-mail correspondence between Ramachandran and Valsala, and they supposedly contain information related to the “sale” of the institution.