Three from TN held for duping director

The city police on Friday arrested a Tamil Nadu-based astrologer and three others for cheating a sandalwood filmmaker of Rs 43 lakh in Yeshwanthpura.

The astrologer and his associates cheated S Narayan by taking a commission for a huge loan that they promised him for lesser interest rate, the police said.

The Yeshwanthpur police arrested the astrologer, Ramesh alias Swamiji, a resident of Mettupalayam in TN, and his aides Vijay Kumar and Santanakrishna of Shivaganga town. Two prime accused — Mandaramurthy and Balasubramanya — are yet to be arrested.

Narayan was in need of money for film production. He had, in 2017, approached the Rajajinagar branch of Andhra Bank for a loan. There he met a person who convinced him that he could arrange a loan, provided he got 10% commission.

The man took the filmmaker to Mettupalayam where he was introduced to the astrologer Ramesh. Later, they both took Narayan to Mandaramurthy in Tirunelveli. He checked Narayan’s property documents and agreed to give a loan of Rs 70 crore. They then made a demand draft in Narayan’s name.

“Narayan was taken to the sub-registrar office and introduced to the officials there. He was convinced everything was moving in the right direction,” said a police officer.

After a few days, the middleman called up Narayan and said he would send the DD if he credits Rs 70 lakh as commission. Narayan transferred Rs 43 lakh as first installment. After that, none of the men responded to Narayan’s calls. He went to Tamil Nadu but was unable to trace them.

High drama

There was high drama when the city police went to TN to arrest astrologer Ramesh and aides. Ramesh created a scene and shouted that they were being kidnapped. The locals chased the police vehicle for 10 km after which the cops managed to reach the jurisdictional office of Superintendent of Police. With their help, the city police brought the accused to Bengaluru.